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Origin  and  Developnnent  of  the  Ne^w  York: 
Common  School  System. 


AN  ADDRESS 


DELIVEBED  BEFOBE  THE 

New  York  StateTeachkrs’ Association, 

AT 

Saratoga  Springs,  N.  Y., 


Yuksday  E^veninGjJuly  8,  1890, 


BY 

ANDEEW  8.  DEAFER, 

SUPEBINTENDENT  OF  PUBLIC  INSTBUCTION,  StATE  OF  NeW  YoBK, 


ALBANY: 

JAMES  B.  LYON,  STATE  PRINTER, 
1890, 


AN  ADDRESS. 


Mr.  Peesident  and  Ladies  and  Gentlemen  of  the  New  York 
State  Teachers’  Association  : If  we  are  loyal  sons  and  daugh- 
ters of  the  Empire  State,  we  know  what  are  commonly  considered 
the  leading  facts  in  her  history.  We  can  recount  the  chief  and  promi- 
nent incidents  in  her  first  settlement,  and  her  wonderful  develop- 
ment from  the  time  when  the  Half  Moon  first  stirred  the  waters 
of  her  majestic  North  river  till  she  came  to  stand  out  as  the  cen- 
tral and  conspicuous  figure  in  the  sisterhood  of  States.  We  have 
wondered  at  the  daring  and  sighed  at  the  fate  of  the  dauntless 
English  captain  with  a Queen  Elizabeth  ruff  about  his  neck,  who 
sailed  his  little  Dutch  vessel  through  the  narrows  at  our  great 
harbor,  only  to  be  disappointed  in  his  confident  belief  that  he  had 
at  last  found  the  great  highway  of  the  nations  to  the  Indies,  and 
to  find  himself  in  an  imperial  fresh  water  river,  flowing  through 
what  he  described  as  “a  land  peopled  by  vigorous  men  and 
beautiful  women — as  beautiful  a land  as  the  foot  of  man  can 
tread  upon.”  We  have  regretted  that  a noble  company  of  English 
Puritans,  bound  for  New  Netherland,  in  the  Mayflower,  were 
carried  out  of  their  course  and  landed  upon  the  inhospitable 
shores  of  Cape  Cod.  Oh ! how  much  New  England  owes  to  ill 
winds  or  bad  seamanship.  We  have  noted  and  commended 
the  foresight  and  thrift  which  led  the  first  Dutch  settlers  to  buy 
22,000  acres  of  land  upon  Manhattan  Island  from  the  Indians  for 
the  not  extravagant  sum  of  twenty-four  dollars,  and  to  lay  the 
foundations  of  a State  upon  land  in  which  they  owned  the  fee. 
We  have  marked  the  different  characteristics  of  the  Dutch  and 
the  English,  as  first  one  and  then  the  other  held  the  supremacy  in 
the  affairs  of  the  colony.  We  have  stood  amazed  in  the  presence 
of  the  fact  that  before,  and  for  many  years  after  the  coming  of 
the  whites,  there  were  upon  this  territory  five  savage  nations  with 
a system  of  laws  and  a retinue  of  officials,  each  with  a completely 


4 


organized  government  shaped  and  directed  by  the  will  of  the 
majority,  and  all  confederated  together  in  a barbarian  republic 
upon  the  unique  plan  afterward  adopted  by  our  States  and  our 
National  Eepublic.  We  have  followed  in  awe  the  unprecedented 
advance  in  population,  the  growth  of  the  most  imperial  cities,  the 
development  of  material  resources  apparently  inexhaustible.  We 
have  witnessed  the  building  of  the  greatest  canal  and  railway  sys- 
tems, and  have  watched  to  a successful  result  the  most  gigantic 
commercial  enterprises  that  human  energy  ever  had  the  cour- 
age to  undertake.  We  have  seen  literature  and  the  arts  and 
sciences  nurtured  and  fostered  by  a people  engrossed  in  the 
world’s  most  bewildering  activities.  We  have  applauded  the 
sagacity  of  our  statesmen,  and  we  have  gloried  in  the  immortal 
deeds  of  our  heroes.  We  have  listened  to  the  discussions  of 
the  earliest  colonial  Congresses  to  form  a basis  of  union  at 
Albany,  and  we  have  heard  the  first  Constitution  promulgated 
from  the  head  of  a barrel  in  front  of  the  old  Senate  house 
at  Kingston.  We  know  how  intrepid  Ethan  Allen  in  the 
gray  dawn  of  a May  morning  demanded  and  received,  from  the 
British  commander  in  undress  uniform,  the  surrender  of  Ticon- 
deroga  “ in  the  name  of  the  great  Jehovah  and  the  Continental 
Congress,”  when  as  yet  the  Congress  had  no  existence ; and  how 
Mad  Anthony  Wayne,  in  reply  to  Washington’s  inquiry  as  to 
whether  he  would  lead  an  attack  on  Stony  Point,  answered  with 
the  ardor  of  the  enthusiast  and  the  instinct  of  the  soldier  that  he 
was,  “ I would  lead  an  attack  on  hell  if  the  commander-in-chief 
would  order  it,  sir.”  Our  hearts  have  throbbed  heavily  as  we 
have  read  the  story  of  the  heroic  and  successful  life  struggle  of 
Herkimer’s  thin  battalions  in  the  valley  of  the  Mohawk,  and  of 
Sullivan’s  sanguinary  campaign  against  hostile  savages  in  the 
Genesee  country.  The  blood  has  tingled  as  we  have  heard 
the  victorious  cannon,  and  witnessed  the  humiliating  surrender  of 
the  haughty  Burgoyne  at  Saratoga,  and  we  have  held  our  breath 
as  Macdonough  assembled  his  crew  about  him,  knelt  in  prayer  on 
the  quarter-deck  of  his  fiag-ship,  and  asked  the  aid  of  the  Almighty 
on  the  ensuing  action,  before  his  navy  thrashed  a superior  force 
on  Lake  Champlain,  while  the  army  paid  a similar  compliment  to 
Wellington’s  veterans,  fresh  from  the  field  of  Waterloo,  and  almost 
disdaining  to  fight  plain  people,  at  Plattsburgh.  We  know  how 


5 


New  York  stood  for  independence,  for  the  Federal  Constitution 
and  the  “ more  perfect  union,”  in  the  first  instance  ; and  how  she 
contributed  one-eighth  of  her  population,  one-fifth  of  the  entire 
force  which  went  out  to  save  that  Union  when  assailed.  We 
honor  the  names  of  Van  Kensselaer  and  Stuyvesant  and  Schuyler 
and  Cadwallader  Golden  and  Eichard  Montgomery,  and  the 
Livingstons,  and  the  Jays,  and  Hamilton,  and  Gouverneur  Morris, 
and  the  Clintons,  and  Daniel  D.  Tompkins,  and  Washington 
Irving,  and  Fennimore  Cooper,  and  James  Kent,  and  Chancellor 
Walworth,  and  Samuel  Nelson,  and  Silas  Wright,  and  Marcy,  and 
Van  Buren,  and  John  A.  Dix,  and  a host  of  othors,  for  we  associate 
them  with  the  circumstances  which  mark  the  growth  and  make 
the  history  of  the  great  commonwealth.  In  short,  we  have  a 
general  knowledge  of  the  leading  facts  which  stand  out  more 
prominently  than  the  ordinary  facts  in  the  course  of  the  physical 
and  political  development  of  the  State. 

Intellectual  Advancement. 

But  I venture  that  we  are  exceptional  even  among  the  loyal 
sons  and  daughters  of  the  Empire  State,  if  we  have  investigated 
the  causes  which  have  promoted,  or  if  we  know  the  events  which 
have  marked  the  social  and  intellectual  advancement  of  the  people 
of  New  York.  If  this  is  so,  it  is  not  strange.  In  the  economy  of 
state-craft  as  in  the  experience  of  the  schools,  it  is  the  physical 
object  which  arrests  the  attention,  and  it  is  the  object-lesson 
which  excites  interest,  arouses  enthusiasm,  and  leaves  the  deepest 
impressions  upon  the  mind.  Eailways  and  steamships,  merchan- 
dise and  machinery,  books  and  newspapers,  great  cities,  public 
works  and  munificent  charities,  all  the  institutions  which  support 
a free  State  and  the  temple  of  liberty,  are  but  the  public  and 
visible  manifestation  of  wide-spread  mental  and  moral  develop- 
ment. May  we  not  to-night  undertake  to  look  through  these 
visible  objects,  and  endeavor  to  discern  the  reason  of  them  ? May 
we  not  try  to  ascertain  the  leading  influence  behind  these  familiar 
and  invaluable  things,  and  profitably  to  inquire  into  the  causes 
which  set  this  influence  in  operation,  and  the  results  which  it, 
in  turn,  has  produced? 

Circumstances  have  scarcely  favored  this  unprecedented 
development  in  statehood.  The  foundations  of  New  York  were 


6 


laid  by  a rude  people,  in  an  unbroken  wilderness  overrun  by  bar- 
barians and  savages.  The  struggle  for  bread  was  a hard  one. 
Yet  these  people  offered  asylum  and  succor  to  the  oppressed  and 
the  heart-sore  of  all  nations.  The  response  was  overwhelming. 
But  all  kinds,  the  best  and  the  worst,  came  together.  With  the 
honest  man  seeking  the  rights  of  conscience  and  the  opportunity 
of  improvement,  which  were  denied  him  in  the  old  world,  came 
the  adventurer  and  the  scapegrace.  We  have  always  held  the 
greatest  port  of  entry  in  the  country,  and  the  overwhelming  and 
oft-polluted  tide  of  immigration  has  always  surged  into  or 
across  our  territory.  The  accumulation  of  many  people  in  great 
communities,  always  presents  many  and  difficult  social  and  indus- 
trial problems.  Yet  who  shall  say  that  the  six  millions  of  people  of 
the  Empire  State  are,  all  classes  together,  less  generally  informed, 
less  keenly  and  alertly  intelligent  than  any  other  six  millions  of 
people  on  the  globe  ? Again,  who  shall  say  that  these  six  millions 
of  people  are  not  better  housed,  better  fed,  better  clothed,  more 
generally  educated,  more  active  in  affairs,  better  equipped  for  self- 
government  than  any  other  entire  people  numbering  six  millions, 
unless  it  be  other  citizens  of  our  own  country,  surrounded  by  the 
same  circumstances  and  conditions? 

This  is  the  result  of  intellectual  force  and  of  mental  strength, 
widely  spread  and  generally  diffused.  The  fact  that  it  reaches  all 
classes  is  its  chief  glory.  It  extends  not  only  to  the  manager  of  a 
railway,  but  to  the  man  who  runs  the  train  or  walks  the  track. 
Commonly  both  have  enjoyed  equal  opportunities  and  stand  in 
different  grades  of  the  service,  only  because  of  qualities  which 
inhere  in  different  individuals,  and  which  no  policy  of  the  State 
can  regulate.  As  often  as  otherwise,  the  man  at  the  top  suffered 
the  greatest  hardships,  labored  against  the  greatest  disadvantages 
and  had  the  poorest  chance.  But  both  are  alert  within  their 
sphere.  Each  is  industrious  and  aggressive.  Each  reads  the 
papers,  discusses  the  tariff  and  goes  to  the  Legislature.  Each 
owns  a home,  supports  a church  and  mingles  in  affairs.  Each 
constitutes  the  right  kind  of  material  out  of  which  to  erect  a free 
State.  If  there  is  to  be  discrimination  at  all,  it  must  be  in  favor 
of  the  masses  fairly  developed,  rather  than  of  the  few  exception- 
ally intellectual  or  unusually  prominent. 


7 


Common  Schools  Peomote  Geneeal  Intelligence. 

What  is  the  prominent  and  conspicuous  influence  which  has  led 
to  this  general  enlightenment  of  the  people  ? It  is  not  leadership, 
except  as  leadership  planned  wisely  in  the  beginning.  It  is  not 
due  to  favoring  circumstances  ; it  is  in  spite  of  unfavorable  ones. 
It  is  not  due  to  the  development  of  physical  and  material 
resources.  That  would  be  misplacing  cause  and  effect.  It  is  not 
the  work  of  the  university,  unless  it  be  indirectly  and  remotely. 
The  common  history  of  New  York  unmistakably  shows  that  this 
widespread  intelligence  among  her  people  was  not  manifest  until 
the  State  placed  common  schools  within  easy  distance  of  every 
home,  and  that  from  the  time  when  this  policy  was  well  estab- 
lished, her  career  has  been  practically  unparalleled  in  the  history 
of  States. 

Qualities  of  Fiest  Dutch  Immigeants. 

Let  us  then  spend  an  hour  in  investigating  the  rise  and  tracing 
the  progress  of  the  State  public  school  system. 

When  America  was  first  settled,  Europe  was  just  emerging 
from  the  gloom  of  the  “Middle  Ages.”  The  prerogatives  of  kings 
were  being  called  in  question,  and  the  walled  castle  and  the 
mailed  knight  were  surely  doomed.  Commercial  enterprise  was 
beginning  to  show  itself,  industry  was  becoming  honorable,  learn- 
ing was  claiming  some  attention.  Society,  which  had  been  pros- 
trate for  centuries  before  the  feudal  lord,  was  getting  upon  its 
feet  again.  Nowhere  else  was  this  so  marked  as  in  the  Low 
Countries.  Holland  was  the  chief  commercial  and  industrial 
nation  of  the  world  at  the  opening  of  the  seventeenth  century.  It 
was  doing  more  for  education,  and  had  a fuller  conception  of  the 
value  of  civil  liberty  than  any  other.  Mr.  Motley,  in  his  history 
of  the  Dutch  Kepublic,  says,  “ the  children  of  the  wealthier 
classes  enjoyed  great  facilities  for  education  in  all  the  great  cap- 
itals,” and  that  “ intellectual  cultivation  was  not  confined  to  the 
higher  orders,  but  on  the  contrary,  it  was  diffused  to  a remarkable 
degree  among  the  hard-working  citizens  and  handicraftsmen.” 
This  people  had  sprung  from  sturdy  Teutonic  and  Celtic  tribes, 
and  inherited  a thrifty  disposition  and  a manly  and  independent 
bearing.  They  had  but  just  followed  the  lead  of  the  finest  orator, 
the  most  sagacious  statesman,  and  the  greatest  soldier  of  the 


8 


sixteenth  century,  in  a revolt  against  arbitrary  power,  and  had 
fought  most  heroically  and  suffered  incomparably  in  the  world’s 
first  and  most  memorable  contest  for  liberty.  Without  democratic 
theories  they  had  been  spending  their  treasure  and  blood  in 
resisting  tyranny,  until  by  force  of  circumstances  their  govern- 
mental organization  became  a republic.  To  such  a people,  the 
company  of  Puritans,  with  Pastor  John  Kobinson  at  its  head,  fled 
from  England  for  shelter  before  drifting  upon  Plymouth  Kock. 
From  this  people  came  the  first  settlers  in  a village  which,  for 
obvious  reasons,  they  called  New  Amsterdam,  in  a territory  they 
called  New  Netherland. 

It  would  be  strange  indeed  if  they  had  not  proved  to  be  an 
industrious  and  thrifty  people,  as  it  would  be  equally  strange  if 
they  had  not  brought  with  them  a love  for  liberty  and  an  instinct 
for  self-government.  Sturdy  in  body  and  mind,  quaint  in  figure, 
tolerant  in  spirit,  given  to  trade  and  to  the  accumulation  of  prop- 
erty; they  cut  the  forest,  tilled  the  ground,  built  huts,  opened 
shops,  trafficked  with  the  Indians,  while  they  organized  society, 
established  public  worship,  opened  schools  and  erected  all  the 
institutions  of  a civil  state.  In  the  most  forbidding  circum- 
stances and  contending  with  the  strongest  odds,  they  impressed 
their  ways  and  their  beliefs  upon  the  future  history  of  the 
country. 

The  Dutch  Establish  Free  Schools. 

Our  colonial  records  clearly  show  that  in  the  midst  of  the  most 
overwhelming  difficulties,  they  were  not  indifferent  to  the  import- 
ance of  schools,  for  even  in  their  most  important  documents,  the 
affairs  of  the  schools  receive  frequent  mention.  Their  primitive 
and  crude  ideas,  their  difficulties  in  raising  money  and  regulating 
teachers,  the  way  in  which  they  made  great  contentions  out  of 
insignificant  matters,  would  be  ludicrous  if  not  so  common  in  the 
closing  years  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

In  1621  the  States-General  of  Holland  enjoined  the  colony  “ to 
find  speedy  means  to  maintain  a clergyman  and  a schoolmaster,” 
and  it  was  required  that  “each  householder  and  inhabitant 
should  bear  such  tax  and  public  charge  as  should  be  considered 
proper  for  their  maintenance.”  Four  years  later  the  expenses  of 
the  schoolmaster  are  shown  to  have  been  360  florins,  just  one- 


9 


fourth  those  of  the  minister.  You  observe  that  some  pernicious 
ideas  relate  back  to  very  early  precedent.  In  1633  Adam  Roe- 
landson,  a professional  schoolmaster,  was  brought  over  to  take 
charge  of  the  school.  He  remained  in  charge  for  nine  years,  and 
is  believed  to  have  been  the  first  professional  schoolmaster  in  the 
country.  Unfortunately  the  proof  is  abundant  that  he  was  of  a 
quarrelsome  nature  and  no  credit  to  the  profession.  Before  1650, 
New  Amsterdam  had  a population  of  800.  Jan  Cornelisen,  Jan 
Stevenson  and  Aryaen  Janson  are  mentioned  as  teachers  who 
kept  schools  “ in  hired  houses.”  The  excise  moneys  seem  to  have 
been  set  apart  to  pay  teachers,  and  they  were  in  part,  at  least, 
paid  out  of  the  public  treasury.  One  of  the  reports  of  the  board 
of  accounts  of  New  Netherland  estimates  that  the  expense  for  the 
next  year  of  the  “schoolmaster,  precentor  and  sexton”  will  be- 
thirty  fiorins,  or  about  twelve  dollars  and  thirty  cents  per  month. 
The  estimate  appears  to  have  been  conceived  in  too  imprudent  a 
spirit,  and  was  reduced  to  eighteen  guilders  or  seven  dollars  and 
fifty-six  cents  per  month.  On  one  occasion  the  governor  of  the 
colony  parleyed  with  the  Indian  chiefs  and  urged  them  to  send 
their  sons  down  to  New  Amsterdam  to  school.  After  taking  a week 
to  consider,  they  diplomatically  answered  that  they  were  power- 
less to  accept  the  invitation  for  the  boys  were  altogether  under 
the  control  of  their  mothers.  I am  sure  that  William  Yestens,  a 
teacher  of  ancient  days,  will  not  only  challenge  your  admiration, 
but  gain  your  sympathy,  for  he  is  shown  to  have  led  a bold,  but 
apparently  an  ineffectual  movement  for  “ an  increase  of  salary.” 

The  churches  frequently  maintained  or  supervised  schools,  and 
not  uncommonly  the  functions  of  the  minister  and  teacher  were 
economically  combined  in  the  same  person.  Indeed,  it  more  than 
once  happened  that  the  poor  teacher  had  also  to  act  as  sexton,  pre- 
centor, choirmaster  or  psalmsetter  and  a “comforter  of  the  sick,”  as 
the  person  who  supplied  the  minister’s  place,  was  commonly  called. 
“ Clergymen,  comforters  of  the  sick,  and  school-masters  ” were 
designated  as  “ necessary  officers  ” in  the  articles  adopted  by  the 
economical  States-General  in  1638,  concerning  the  colonization  of 
New  Netherland.  One  of  the  dignified  early  reports  upon  the 
condition  of  the  colony,' speaks  of  the  plate  having  been  passed 
around  a long  time  to  raise  money  to  build  a school-house, 
2 


10 


“ which  has  as  yet  been  built  only  with  words,”  and  asserts  that 
the  school  “ is  kept  very  irregularly  by  this  one  or  that  according 
to  his  fancy,  as  long  as  he  thinks  proper.”  If  this  was  not  for  the 
purpose,  it  certainly  should  have  had  the  effect  of  loosening  the 
purse-strings  of  the  home  government.  The  extension  of  the 
population  into  the  interior,  is  shown  by  the  official  direction  to 
provide  ministers  and  teachers  to  be  sent,  to  “ Rensselaer’s 
Colonie,”  and  other  “distant  places.”  In  one  instance  the  people 
are  plainly  told  by  the  director  for  the  colony,  that  “ if  they  are 
such  patriots  as  they  appear  to  be,  they  will  be  leaders  in  generous 
contributions  for  laudable  objects,  and  will  not  complain  when 
the  directors  request  a collection  toward  the  erection  of  a church 
and  a school.”  That  learning  was  making  progress,  is  shown  by 
the  fact  that  in  1655  Aegidius  Luyck  is  spoken  of  “ as  late 
principal  of  the  Latin  school  in  New  Amsterdam.”  In  several 
instances,  the  governor  and  council  of  the  colony  received  com- 
plaints that  the  inhabitants  of  certain  villages  refused  to  pay  for 
the  support  of  schools,  and  after  notifying  the  delinquents  to 
appear  and  answer,  ordered  them  “ to  promptly  pay  their  share  for 
the  support  aforesaid,  on  pain  of  proceeding  against  them  with 
immediate  execution.”  How  much  pain  would  ensue  in  that 
painful  event,  I am  certainly  unable  to  say. 

Common  Schools  Imported  from  Holland. 

Reminiscences  like  these  might  be  multiplied  almost  indefi- 
nitely. Enough  have  been  recited  to  show  that  while  learning 
was  in  its  incipient  stages,  as  was  everything  else,  yet  the 
common  school  idea  was  among  this  people  in  the  correct  form, 
and  that  it  was  developing.  Indeed,  it  occurs  to  me  that  enough 
has  been  shown  to  establish  the  proposition  that  we  are  indebted 
to  the  republic  in  the  Netherlands,  rather  than  the  kingdom  of 
Great  Britain,  for  the  first  and  essential  principles  of  the  free 
school  system,  and  that  the  first  importation  came  by  way  of  the 
narrows  at  Sandy  Hook,  rather  than  over  Cape  Cod. 

Latin  Schools  at  New  Amsterdam. 

In  1658  the  people  petitioned  Peter  Stuyvesant,  the  director, 
for  a person  to  teach  a Latin  school,  assuring  him  that  it  would 
be  well  attended,  and  would  lead  to  the  formation  of  an  academy, 


11 


“ whereby  this  place  to  great  splendor  will  have  attained.”  The 
petition  was  granted,  and  a classical  school  was  opened.  Dr. 
Alexander  Carolus,  a professional  teacher,  was  principal.  He 
received  $187.50  annually  from  the  public  treasury,  was  provided 
with  a house  and  garden,  received  six  guilders  from  each  student, 
and  was  allowed  to  practice  medicine  in  addition. 

English  Government  Opposed  to  Common  Schools. 

It  is  said  by  eminent  authority  that  when  the  Dutch  were 
obliged  to  surrender  to  the  English  in  1664,  the  educational  spirit 
was  so  common  throughout  the  colony  that  almost  every  settle- 
ment had  a regular  school  taught  by  more  or  less  permanent 
teachers,  and  that  there  was  a decided  set  back  given  to  this 
movement  upon  the  advent  of  the  English  in  consequence  of  the 
apprehension  on  the  part  of  the  nobility,  that  common  schools 
would  nourish  and  strengthen  a spirit  of  independence  which  had, 
even  then,  made  some  considerable  headway.  It  is  true,  that  the 
official  instructions  sent  by  the  government  to  the  successive 
governors  of  the  province,  uniformly  provided  that  no  person 
should  be  permitted  to  come  from  England  to  teach  a school  with- 
out the  license  of  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury,  and  that  no  per- 
son here  should  do  so  without  the  license  of  the  governor,  but  it 
seems  clear  that  this  was  not  so  much  for  the  purpose  of  exclud- 
ing incompetent  instructors  as  it  was  to  control  appointments  and 
determine  the  course  of  the  schools. 

Substantially  the  only  legislative  act  relating  to  free  schools 
passed  within  the  colony,  during  the  English  rule,  is  that 
entitled  “An  act  for  encouragement  of  a grammar  free  school  in 
the  city  of  New  York,”  bearing  date  November  22,  1702.  It 
provided  that  there  should  be  “ Elected,  Chosen,  Authorized 
and  appointed,  one  able,  skilfull  and  Orthodox  person  to  be 
Schoolmaster,  for  the  education  and  instruction  of  youth 
and  Male  Children  of  such  parents  as  are  of  French  and 
Dutch  extraction  as  well  as  of  the  English,”  and  that  there 
should  each  year  for  seven  years  be  levied  and  collected  the  sum 
of  fifty  pounds  for  the  support  of  such  School-Master.  This  would 
seem  to  impair  the  statement  that  the  English  did  not  aid  the 
organization  of  schools.  But  an  examination  of  the  records  con- 


OF 

'■ibhary 


lUllYoo 


12 


firms  the  fact  beyond  question.  The  bill  was  first  passed  by  the 
General  Assembly  in  which  the  Dutch  were  strong  if  not  predom- 
inant. The  Governor  and  Council  refused  to  approve  it  and  returned 
it  to  the  Assembly.  The  Assembly  adhered  to  its  position.  A com- 
mittee of  conference  was  appointed,  and,  after  days  of  controversy, 
a compromise  was  finally  agreed  upon  by  which  the  bill  was 
amended  so  as  to  require  that  the  teacher  should  be  licensed  and 
approved  by  the  Bishop  of  London  or  the  Governor  or  Com- 
mander-in-chief of  the  province.  The  bill  was  enacted  by  the 
Dutch.  It  was  approved  by  the  English  Governor,  but  not  until 
amended  so  as  to  enable  him  to  control  the  school  in  the  interests 
of  the  Established  church  and  the  crown.  When,  by  its  own 
terms,  the  provisions  of  this  measure  expired,  seven  years  later, 
nothing  was  done  to  renew  or  continue  them. 

Indeed  all  the  English  schools  in  the  province  from  1700  down 
to  the  time  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  were  maintained 
by  a great  religious  society,  organized  under  the  auspices  of  the 
Church  of  England,  and,  of  course,  with  the  favor  of  the  govern- 
ment, called  “ The  society  for  the  propagation  of  the  gospel  in 
foreign  parts.”  The  law  governing  this  society  provided  that  no 
teacher  should  be  employed  until  he  had  proved  “ his  affection  to 
the  present  government,”  and  “ his  conformity  to  the  doctrine  and 
discipline  of  the  Church  of  England.”  Schools  maintained  under 
such  auspices  and  influences  were  in  no  sense  free  schools. 

Indeed,  as  humiliating  as  it  is,  no  student  of  history  can 
fail  to  discern  the  fact  that  the  government  of  Great  Britain, 
during  its  supremacy  in  this  territory,  did  nothing  to  facilitate 
the  extension  or  promote  the  efficiency  of  free  elementary  schools 
among  the  people. 

I observe  with  interest,  in  this  connection,  that  Mr.  Edward 
Eggleston,  in  a most  readable  article  concerning  the  early  English 
colony  in  Virginia,  which  appears  in  the  July  number  of  the 
“ Century  ” magazine,  states  that  the  policy  of  the  English 
government,  touching  schools  in  that  colony,  was  precisely  what 
we  have  found  it  to  be  in  New  York.  In  all  the  colonies  it  was 
what  we  might  have  expected  to  find.  The  nobility  reasoned 
that  poor  men  and  ignorant  men  could  be  governed,  and  that 
learning  brought  disobedience  and  heresy  into  the  world,  and 


13 


kings  and  princes,  lords  and  earls  and  dnkes,  acted  in  accord 
with  their  beliefs. 

If  the  English  nobility  did  nothing  to  extend  elementary  schools, 
the  Dutch  were  largely  indifferent  to  advanced  schools.  Their 
leading  men  were  merchants  whose  sons  went  from  the 
elementary  schools  into  the  affairs  of  trade. 

It  was  precisely  the  same  considerations  which  led  the 
English  to  treat  the  elementary  schools  with  indifference, 
that  also  led  to  the  organization  and  shaped  the  policy  of 
the  first  college  in  the  State.  Its  business  was  to  educate  leaders 
to  the  tenets  of  the  State  church,  so  far  as  religion  might  go,  and 
who  would  sympathize  and  agree  with  the  English  aristocracy,  so 
far  as  politics  were  concerned.  Twenty  years  after  the  organiza- 
tion of  this  college,  its  officers  requested  a royal  charter  granting 
special  privileges.  In  a letter  transmitting  this  request,  and  urg- 
ing that  it  be  granted,  Cadwallader  Golden,  the  Lieutenant-Gov- 
ernor of  the  Province,  concludes  as  follows  : “ It  therefore  seems 
highly  requisite  that  a seminary  on  the  principles  of  the  Church 
of  England  be  distinguished  in  America,  by  particular  privileges, 
not  only  on  account  of  religion,  but  of  good  policy,  to  prevent  the 
growth  of  republican  principles  which  already  too  much  prevail 
in  the  colonies.” 

My  limits  will  not  allow  me  to  spend  more  time  in  referring  to 
the  educational  facts  bearing  upon  the  colonial  period.  We  must 
be  content,  for  the  present,  with  the  statement,  which  is  abund- 
antly supported  by  the  facts,  that  under  the  mistaken  policy  of 
the  English  rule,  the  schools  languished,  and  during  the  progress 
of  the  war  for  independence,  which  raged  with  great  fierceness 
over  our  territory,  they  were  nearly  or  quite  obliterated.  The 
fury  of  war  had  closed  the  doors  or  entirely  extinguished  the 
single  college  and,  practically,  all  of  the  academies  and  schools. 

Kevival  of  Learning  at  Close  of  the  Eevolution. 

With  independence  and  free  statehood  came  a renewed  interest  in 
education,  and  a strong  impulse  toward  the  advancement  in  learn- 
ing. The  foremost  statesmen  deemed  the  subject  worthy  their 
closest  attention.  Immediately  upon  the  advent  of  peace. 
Governor  George  Clinton  said  to  the  Legislature  of  1784,  “ there 


14 


is  scarce  anything  more  worthy  your  attention  than  the  revival 
and  encouragement  of  seminaries  of  learning.”  In  a communica- 
tion to  the  same  Legislature,  asking  for  a revision  of  their  charter, 
the  few  remaining  governors  of  Kings  College  stated  that  the 
greater  part  of  their  number  had  died  out  or  departed  from  the 
state,”  and  that  many  parts  of  their  charter  “ are  inconsistent 
with  that  liberality  and  that  civil  and  religious  freedom  which  our 
present  happy  constitution  points  out.” 

In  answer,  came  an  act  changing  the  name  from  “ Kings  ” to 
“ Columbia,”  under  which  the  old  institution  played  a most 
important  part  in  the  formative  period  of  the  Commonwealth  and 
the  republic.  In  time  she  accumulated  means  and  gathered 
honors  about  her,  and  now,  under  the  presidency  of  a young, 
accomplished  and  vigorous  man,  whom  we  heard  with  so  much 
satisfaction  last  evening,  seems  to  be  entering  upon  a career  of 
unwonted  brilliancy,  and  still  more  widely  extended  usefulness. 

The  act  in  May,  1784,  reorganizing  this  college,  created  the  State 
Board  of  Regents.  In  theory  and  intent,  the  Regents  were  consti- 
tuted a board  of  trustees  of  the  existing  college,  with  authority  to 
organize  additional  colleges  and  “seminaries,”  and  exercise  similar 
authority  over  such  as  should  be  organized.  In  fact,  the  board 
only  transacted  the  business  of  the  single  college  for  three  years, 
and  in  that  time  experienced  innumerable  obstacles  and  difficulties. 

Board  of  Regents  Propose  Elementary  Schools. 

This  original  Board  of  Regents  was  the  first  representative  body 
since  the  Dutch  rule  to  make  any  official  or  public  deliverance 
looking  to  the  organization  of  a State  public  school  system. 
Technically,  it  had  no  legal  authority  or  responsibility  concerning 
elementary  schools,  and  it  so  understood.  Indeed,  there  were  no 
such  schools  at  the  close  of  the  war,  and  the  prevalent,  if  not  the 
universal  idea,  was  that  society  itself  was  not  chargeable  with  any 
responsibility  in  that  connection.  But  the  wisest  statesmanship  of 
the  day  was  in  that  Board  of  Regents.  In  a musty  book  of  records, 
now  in  the  archives  of  Columbia  college,  and  as  to  the  custody  of 
which  that  institution  and  the  Board  of  Regents  have  held  contrary 
opinions,  there  is  to  be  found  the  journal  of  the  board  during  the 
three  years  when  that  college  constituted  the  entire  university,  and 


15 


when  the  functions  of  the  Eegents  were  mainly  confined  to  the  super- 
vision of  the  same.  In  this  book  there  is  a record  which  is  certainly 
of  interest  to  us.  On  the  31st  of  January,  1787,  the  board  appointed 
a committee,  in  the  language  of  the  record,  “ to  take  into  considera- 
tion the  present  state  of  the  university,  and  to  report  as  soon  as 
possible,  the  measures  necessary  to  be  adopted  to  carry  into  effect 
the  views  of  the  Legislature  with  respect  to  the  same,  and  par- 
ticularly with  respect  to  Columbia  College.”  The  committee  con- 
sisted of  the  mayor  of  New  York,  and  Messrs.  Jay,  Kogers,  Mason, 
Livingston,  Clarkson,  Gros  and  Hamilton.  The  report  was  pre- 
sented at  a meeting  held  February  16,  1787,  adopted,  and  ordered 
to  be  transmitted  to  the  Legislature.  From  the  nature  and 
verbiage  of  this  report,  as  well  as  the  order  in  which  the  names 
of  the  committee  appear,  it  seems  reasonably  clear  that  Hamilton 
drafted  it.  After  setting  forth  the  various  difficulties  which  the 
board  had  experienced  and  suggesting  the  necessary  remedies, 
the  committee  went  outside  of  its  prescribed  duty  and,  so  far  as  I 
know,  made  the  first  public  and  official  presentation  of  the  neces- 
sity of  common  schools  maintained  by  public  authority,  in  the 
following  words  : 

“But  before  your  committee  conclude,  they  feel  themselves 
bound  in  faithfulness  to  add  that  the  erecting  of  public  schools 
for  teaching,  reading,  writing  and  arithmetic  is  an  object  of  very 
great  importance  which  ought  not  to  be  left  to  the  discretion  of 
private  men,  but  be  promoted  by  public  authority.  Of  so  much 
knowledge  no  citizen  ought  to  be  destitute,  and  yet  it  is  a reflec- 
tion as  true  as  it  is  painful  that  but  too  many  of  our  youth  are 
brought  up  in  utter  ignorance.  This  is  a reproach  under  which 
we  have  long  laboured  unmarred  by  the  example  of  our  neigh- 
bors, who,  not  leaving  the  education  of  their  children  to  chance, 
have  widely  diffused  throughout  their  State  a public  provision  for 
such  instruction. 

“Your  committee  are  sensible  that  the  Eegents  are  invested  with 
no  funds  of  which  they  have  the  disposal,  but  they  nevertheless 
conceive  it  to  be  their  duty  to  bring  the  subject  in  view  before 
the  honorable,  the  Legislature,  who  alone  can  provide  a remedy.” 

Nothing  came  of  this.  The  Legislature  passed  the  act  which  ’ 
the  board  submitted,  but  it  contained  no  mention  of  common 
schools.  It  is  impossible  to  discern  in  any  of  these  early  educa- 
tional statutes  any  acknowledgment  of  the  principle  that  the 
State  shoiild  be  responsibly  for  ylementary  schools.  They  pro* 


16 


vided  for  and  aided  colleges  and  academies  only,  quite  possibly 
in  the  belief  that  thereby  elementary  education  would  be 
promoted  indirectly  and  perhaps  most  effectually. 

Gospel  and  School  Lands. 

It  is  indeed  strange  how  little  mention  there  was  of  schools  in 
those  early  legislative  sessions.  In  a comprehensive  act  of  the 
Legislature  in  February,  1789,  providing  for  the  sale  of  certain 
public  lands  of  the  State,  the  Surveyor-General  was  directed  to  lay 
out  twenty  townships,  so  that  each  should  contain  100  lots  of  250 
acres  each,  and  sell  the  same,  except  that  he  should,  reserve,  near 
the  center  of  each  township,  one  lot  which  should  be  devoted  to  the 
support  of  the  gospel,  and  one  other  to  the  support  of  schools. 
Here  is  the  origin  of  the  gospel  and  school  moneys  which  have 
mystified  so  many  minds.  This  action,  however,  contained  no 
recognition,  whatever,  of  the  common-school  principle.  It  was 
only  an  admission  of  the  propriety  of  public  encouragement  to 
churches  and  schools,  and  that  on  equal  terms. 

Fikst  Statute  foe  an  Elementaky  School. 

In  1791  an  act  was  passed,  authorizing  six  gentlemen,  of  whom 
the  first  was  Robert  R.  Livingston,  to  receive  certain  moneys 
arising  from  excise  fees  and  fines  in  the  town  of  Clermont,  in  the 
county  of  Columbia,  and  “ not  wanted  for  the  relief  of  the  poor,” 
and  to  build  a school-house  and  maintain  a school  therewith. 
Here  is  the  first  authority  of  the  new  commonwealth  for  an 
elementary  school.  But  it  meant  little.  It  levied  no  tax.  It  per- 
mitted a town  to  use  for  a school,  moneys  which  would  legally  go 
to  the  support  of  the  poor,  and  which  were  not  needed  for  that 
purpose.  It  put  the  alms-house  and  the  school  on  about  an 
equal  footing. 

First  General  Statute  Encouraging  Elementary  Schools. 

But  in  six  years  after  their  first  utterance,  the  Board  of  Regents 
recurred  to  the  matter  persistently  and  heroically.  In  1793  and 
’94  and  ’95,  the  board  urged  the  matter  in  their  annual  reports, 
and  the  stanch  old  Governor  likewise  talked  strongly  and  soundly 
in  the  legislative  ear.  In  the  latter  year  he  spoke  in  this  fashion : 

“ While  it  is  evident  that  the  general  establishment  and  liberal 
endowment  of  academies  are  highly  to  be  commended  and  are 


17 


attended  with  the  most  beneficial  consequences,  yet  it  can  not  be 
denied  that  they  are  principally  confined  to  the  children  of  the 
opulent,  and  that  a great  proportion  of  the  community  is  excluded 
from  their  immediate  advantages.  The  establishment  of  common 
schools  throughout  the  State  is  happily  calculated  to  remedy  this 
inconvenience,  and  will  therefore  engage  your  early  and  decided 
consideration.” 

These  influential  appeals  brought  from  the  Legislature  of  1795 
a law  entitled  “An  act  for  the  encouragement  of  schools,”  which 
became  the  substantial  corner-stone  of  a State  elementary  school 
system.  It  appropriated  $100,000  each  year  for  five  years,  from 
the  State  treasury  “ for  the  purpose  of  encouraging  and  maintain- 
ing schools  in  the  several  cities  and  towns  of  this  State,  in  which 
the  children  of  the  inhabitants  residing  in  the  State  shall  be 
instructed  in  the  English  language,  or  be  taught  English  grammar, 
arithmetic,  mathematics  and  such  other  branches  of  knowledge  as 
are  most  useful  and  necessary  to  complete  a good  education.” 
This  was  a grand  and  noble  thing  to  do.  The  appropriation 
was  munificent  when  we  consider  the  valuation  upon  which  it 
was  levied.  The  entire  assessable  valuation  then  was  but  about 
$100,000,000.  The  same  rate  upon  our  valuation  would  yield 
nearly  $3,500,000  as  the  annual  State  appropriation  for  common 
schools  now,  which,  by  a curious  coincidence,  is  precisely  what 
the  State  does  appropriate.  The  State  was  then  heavily  in  debt ; 
it  is  free  from  debt  now.  But  in  addition  to  the  appropriation, 
the  act  required  each  town  to  raise  by  tax  half  as  much  more  as 
it  received  from  the  State  appropriation.  It  did  not  authorize 
this ; it  required  it.  In  the  Assembly,  when  the  bill  was  under 
consideration,  a motion  was  made  to  provide  that  each  town 
should  share  in  the  appropriation  only  upon  condition  that  it 
should  raise  one-half  as  much  more  by  local  taxation.  The 
proposition  was  voted  down.  The  House  said  no,  there  shall  be 
no  conditions  or  uncertainty  about  it.  We  will  make  this  appro- 
priation ; we  will  require  each  town  to  raise  half  as  much  more 
as  we  give  it,  and  we  will  set  up  the  machinery  which  will  insure 
its  proper  expenditure  for  elementary  schools.  This  was  not 
only  a grand  and  a noble,  but  it  was  a heroic  thing  to  do^ 

3 


18 


But  in  other  ways  this  first  general  school  law  reveals  the 
handiwork  of  the  best  statesmanship.  It  stated  the  purpose  of 
the  law  accurately  and  felicitously.  It  provided  a system  for 
allotting  the  appropriation  and  for  the  annual  election  of  not  less 
than  three  nor  more  than  seven  commissioners  in  each  town,  who 
were  to  supervise  and  direct  the  system.  This  appropriation  was 
not  intended  to  pay  the  full  expense  of  the  schools.  It  was  only 
to  assist.  It  was  reasoned  that  the  people  in  localities  would 
associate  together  because  of  this  assistance,  and  open  schools. 
The  act  contemplated  the  organization  of  school  districts  in  the 
country,  provided  for  the  election  of  trustees,  and  set  forth  their 
powers  and  duties.  In  short,  it  brought  into  being  the  elements 
of  a Statt-  school  system,  and  gave  shape  and  form  to  that  system, 
in  essential  particulars,  as  it  exists  to-day. 

Wise  and  courageous  as  were  the  men  who  framed  this  great 
statute  and  breathed  the  breath  of  life  into  a common  school  sys- 
tem, and  they  were  wise  and  courageous  beyond  their  generation, 
yet  they  had  no  conception  of,  and  gave  no  adhesion  to  the  doc- 
trine now  pervading  the  school  system,  that  it  is  the  duty  of  the 
State  to  provide  by  common  tax  an  elementary  school  within 
easy  access  of  every  home,  and  that  a good  English  education  at 
general  expense  is  the  rightful  inheritance  of  every  child  of  the 
commonwealth.  They  advanced  to  the  point  of  believing  that 
the  State  should  encourage  schools,  and  even  to  the  point  of 
believing  that  it  might  rightfully  do  this  in  a substantial  way 
through  its  power  to  levy  and  collect  taxes.  But  they  still 
believed  that,  primarily,  the  responsibility  rested  upon  each  indi- 
vidual to  educate  his  offspring,  and  that  only  when  he  failed  to 
do  this,  private  or  public  charity  might  properly  aid  the 
unfortunate. 

It  seems  strange,  in  view  of  the  fact  that  the  State  had  pre- 
viously confided  its  educational  interests,  so  far  as  it  had  acted  at 
all,  to  the  Board  of  Regents,  and  that  the  common  school  system 
was  established  largely  through  the  influence  of  that  board,  that 
it  did  not  give  the  Regents  supervision  of  the  new  system.  But  it 
did  not  do  so.  On  the  contrary,  the  bill  recited  that  special  pro- 
vision had  previously  been  made  for  encouraging  colleges  and 
^.cademies,  and  provided  that  nothing  contained  in  this  act  should 


19 


be  construed  as  extending  to  such  institutions.  In  1800,  a strong 
movement  was  made  for  continuing  the  provisions  of  the  act  of 
1795  for  another  five  years.  It  succeeded  in  the  House,  but 
failed  in  the  Senate,  near  the  close  of  the  session,  by  a close  vote. 
Each  succeeding  year  for  five  years  the  Governor  urged  the  sub- 
ject, but  nothing  was  done.  Evidence  is  not  wanting  to  show 
that  the  unfortunate  delay  and  neglect  resulted  from  differences 
as  to  the  best  course  to  pursue,  and  particularly  as  to  whether 
the  administration  of  the  system  should  be  given  to  the  Regents. 
In  1805,  the  foundations  of  a permanent  common  school  fund  were 
laid,  and  from  that  time,  in  spite  of  some  neglect  and  hin- 
drances innumerable,  the  common  school  system  has,  with  unvary- 
ing uniformity,  grown  in  strength  and  in  efficiency.  In  1798,  the 
reports  received  showed  the  organization  of  1,352  schools,  with 
59,660  pupils.  In  1815,  there  were  2,755  districts  and  140,106 
pupils.  In  1830,  there  were  9,063  dis^tricts,  and  499,424  pupils. 
Last  year  there  were  1,803,667  pupils  in  the  common  schools  of 
the  State. 

Public  School  Society  of  New  York  City. 

Even  the  briefest  narration  of  the  development  of  the  State 
school  system  would  be  unfaithful,  which  failed  to  make  mention 
of  a great  organization  known  as  the  “Public  School  Society 
of  the  City  of  New  York.”  It  was  chartered  by  the  Legislature 
in  1805,  and  was  composed  of  the  foremost  citizens  of  the 
metropolis.  Its  object,  as  stated  in  its  charter,  was  to  establish 
“ a free  school  in  the  city  of  New  York  for  the  education  of  such 
poor  children  as  do  not  belong  to  or  are  not  provided  for  by  any 
religious  society.”  This  illustrates  the  prevailing  sentiment  of  the 
time  concerning  the  relation  which  society  should  sustain  to 
common  education,  better  than  any  language  of  mine  can  do  it. 
In  acting  up  to  the  spirit  of  the  times,  and  in  carrying  out  the 
beneficent  object  for  which  it  was  created,  this  society  won  the 
gratitude  of  the  ages.  It  received  public  and  private  contribu- 
tions, and  tuition  fees  for  the  support  of  its  work ; it  controlled 
all  the  public  schools  in  the  city  for  nearly  fifty  years,  and  exerted 
a strong  influence  upon  the  educational  opinion  of  the  country. 
At  its  dissolution  in  1853,  it  had  supervised  the  instruction  of 


20 


600,000  children,  and  it  turned  over  to  the  board  of  education  of 
the  city  of  New  York,  property  worth  more  than  $450,000. 

What  this  society  was  doing  in  the  city  of  New  York,  was  being 
done  in  one  way  or  another  to  a greater  or  less  extent,  by 
associated  effort  in  all  the  cities  and  towns  of  the  State. 

Growth  of  the  System. 

The  fact  that  the  State  assumed  to  regulate  the  affairs  of  the 
schools  to  some  extent,  as  well  as  the  aid  which  it  gave  them, 
coupled  with  the  growing  public  interest  in  them  and  the  ardor 
of  the  professional  educators,  steadily  promoted  the  growth  and 
development  of  the  system  till,  in  the  judgment  of  the  most  com- 
petent and  impartial  witnesses,  it  clearly  led  the  educational  work 
of  the  country.  In  his  annual  report  for  1845,  Horace  Mann, 
secretary  of  board  of  education  of  Massachusetts,  says  : “The 
great  State  of  New  York  is  carrying  forward  the  work  of  public 
education  more  rapidly  than  any  other  State  in  the  Union,  or  any 
other  country  in  the  world.”  And  Henry  Barnard,  of  Connec- 
ticut, at  the  first  meeting  of  your  association  in  the  same 
year,  said,  “I  have  watched  the  progressive  improvement  in  the 
organization  and  administration  of  the  school  system  of  this  great 
State  with  intense  interest,  and  regard  it  at  this  time  as  superior 
to  any  other  of  which  I have  any  knowledge,  for  its  extent,  its 
liberality,  its  efiiciency  and  the  general  intelligence  and  activity 
with  which  its  widespread  affairs  are  administered.”  These  will 
be  recognized,  at  once,  as  great  names — perhaps  the  greatest — in 
the  history  of  common  school  development  in  the  country. 

The  Bate  Bill. 

The  early  legislation  seems  to  have  been  framed  on  the  belief  that 
the  income  of  the  State  School  Fund,  and  the  tax  equal  to  one-half 
its  share,  which  each  district  was  required  to  raise,  would  support 
the  schools,  but  this  was  found  to  be  inadequate,  and  then  it  was 
provided  that  the  schools  should  be  maintained  a specified  time 
each  year,  and  that  any  deficiency  in  funds  should  be  collected 
from  the  patrons  of  the  schools  in  proportion  to  the  attendance  of 
their  children.  This  gave  rise  to  the  “ rate  bill.”  It  was  only  a 
tax  levied  upon  parents  in  proportion  to  the  number  of  days 
which  their  children  attended  the  school.  The  amounts  raised  in 


21 


this  way  were  not  inconsiderable.  In  1830  it  was  $374,000;  in 
1840,  $475,000 ; in  1867,  the  last  year  of  the  system,  it  was 
$709,000.  The  average  sum  annually  collected  by  rate  bill  in  the 
forty  years  from  1828  to  1868,  was  $410,685.66. 

The  greatest  contest  concerning  schools  which  the  State  has 
known  was  over  the  abolition  of  the  rate-bill  and  the  consequent 
establishment  of  absolutely  free  schools.  Every  man  here,  past 
50  years  of  age  who  is  accustomed  to  be  interested  in  affairs,  will 
feel  the  blood  coursing  more  rapidly  through  his  veins  at  the 
remembrance  of  the  fight  for  schools,  free  to  all  and  maintained 
at  public  expense.  I fear  none  of  the  ladies  are  old  enough 
to  recall  it. 

The  system  became  odious.  It  discriminated  against  the  poor. 
Although  it  permitted  trustees  to  excuse  such  from  paying  fees, 
no  self-respecting  man  could  suffer  himself  to  be  publicly 
adjudged  to  be  poor,  by  a school  trustee.  It  afforded  a good 
excuse,  or  plausible  pretext  for  non-attendance.  It  was  attended 
with  many  misunderstandings  and  disputes,  and  promoted 
demoralization  in  many  ways.  Sentiment  was  deeply  agitated, 
and  found  expression  in  every  direction.  In  1849,  the  Legislature 
submitted  the  question  to  a vote  of  the  people,  and  the  returns 
showed  249,872  in  favor  of  making  “ the  property  of  the  State 
educate  the  children  of  the  State,”  and  91,951  against  it.  The 
opponents  were  not  content.  In  1850,  they  procured  legislation 
resubmitting  the  question,  and  the  returns  showed  209,616  against 
the  rate  bill,  and  184,303  for  the  old  system.  Still  the  opponents 
were  not  content.  In  1850,  a kind  of  compromise  was  effected,  and 
the  controversy  was  attempted  to  be  settled  by  restoring  the  rate 
bill  and  levying  a State  tax  for  $800,000,  to  be  distributed  with 
the  school  money.  This  tax  increased  to  larger  amounts  has 
been  annually  raised  since,  and  is  technically  known  as  the  “ free 
school  fund.” 

But,  as  a general  thing,  the  cities  would  not  tolerate  the  rate 
bill.  At  their  solicitation  the  Legislature,  from  time  to  time, 
passed  special  acts  creating  a board  of  education  with  general 
powers  and  duties,  and  in  this  manner  set  up  an  organized  school 
system  in  each  city.  These  special  laws  ordinarily  authorized 
taxation  adequate  to  the  entire  support  of  the  schools,  and  thus 


22 

the  rate  bill  became  obsolete  in  most  of  the  cities  at  a compara- 
tively early  day. 

In  the  meantime,  the  “ union  free  school  district  system  ” 
became  legally  permissible,  and  met  with  considerable  favor.  It 
authorized  districts  to  combine  and- establish  a graded  school, 
and  meet  the  expenses  by  a general  tax,  thus  obviating  the 
necessity  for  the  rate  bill,  in  communities  adopting  it.  In  1867, 
under  the  impetuous  and  able  leadership  of  Victor  M.  Eice,  the 
rate-bill  system  was  finally  abolished,  and  the  principle  that  the 
schools  should  be  absolutely  free  to  all  and  supported  at  public 
and  general  expense,  was  fully  and  triumphantly  established. 

What  has  Promoted  the  Growth  of  the  Common  School  System. 

Now  permit  me,  in  as  few  words  as  I can  well  employ,  to  speak  of 
the  distinguishing  characteristics  which  have  made  our  State  school 
system  the  leading  influence  in  developing  the  intellectual,  and 
therefore  the  material  life  of  the  commonwealth,  and  have  consti- 
tuted it  a model  for  other  States,  so  far  as  their  representatives 
have  had  the  foresight  and  the  courage  to  follow  it.  It  may  fairly 
be  said  that  these  are  four  in  number: 

1.  State  support. 

2.  Extent  and  manner  of  supervision. 

3.  Technical  training  of  teachers. 

4.  Cooperative  effort. 

State  Support. 

The  State  has  not,  at  all  times,  done  all  that  her  ardent  educa- 
tors have  asked.  Her  generosity  has  been  so  munificent  that 
their  standard  has  been  high  and  their  expectations  great.  For 
many  years  her  authority  has  been  potent,  and  her  bounty  plen- 
teous. Passing  the  first  splendid  appropriation,  before  the  dawn 
of  the  nineteenth  century,  to  which  I have  previously  adverted, 
we  find  that  in  1805,  she  laid  the  foundation  of  a permanent  com- 
mon school  fund,  and  provided  for  its  increase,  until  last  year  it 
amounted  to  $4,000,000.  Acting  upon  the  commonly  accepted 
theory  of  the  times,  large  sums  were  appropriated  year  after 
year  to  encourage  schools.  At  an  early  day,  the  State  began 
the  policy  of  requiring  localities  to  raise  by  tax  such  additional 
amounts  as  were  necessary  to  maintain  schools,  and  author- 


23 


ized  all  communities  to  levy  such  additional  amounts  as  they 
saw  fit  for  the  same  purpose.  More  than  fifty  years  ago,  the 
State  initiated  the  school  district  library  system,  and  since 
that  time  has  annually  made  a liberal  appropriation  to  maintain 
the  same.  It  is  true  that  portions  of  this  money  have  been 
diverted  to  other  uses,  and  that  the  whole  matter  needs  revision 
now,  but  it  is  equally  true  that  the  millions  of  volumes  which  the 
fund  has  supplied,  greatly  enhanced  the  efficiency  of  the  schools, 
and  promoted  the  mental  growth  of  the  people  of  the  State.  In 
1851,  it  disavowed  the  old  doctrine  that  education  was  the  rightful 
inheritance  of  the  opulent,  but  ought  to  be  doled  out  in  reason- 
able quantities  as  a charity  offering  to  the  poor,  adopted  the 
principle  that  :he  property  of  the  State  should  educate  the 
children  of  the  State,  and  began  regularly  to  levy  a State  tax  for 
schools,  and  commenced  the  annual  appropriation  of  the  “ free 
school  fund.”  Under  this  policy  the  amount  raised  by  general 
and  local  taxation  for  common  schools  in  the  State,  has  rapidly 
advanced  from  $1,600,000  in  1850,  to  $3,700,000  in  1860 ; 
$10,000,000  in  1870;  and  nearly  $17,000,000  last  year.  In  1866, 
the  State  extended  to  local  authorities  the  power  to  acquire 
land  for  school  sites  by  the  right  of  eminent  domain.  It  is  a 
lesson  wdiich  the  States  of  the  Union  have  been  slow  to  learn, 
and  which  some  of  them  will  apparently  never  learn,  that  the 
efficiency  of  a school  system  must  necessarily  depend  largely  upon 
the  extent  of  support,  and  the  proper  but  complete  exercise  of 
State  authority.  Men  who  understand  it,  not  uncommonly  lack 
the  courage  to  say  so.  The  Empire  State  appreciated  this  fact  early, 
earlier  than  any  other,  and  her  statesmen  have  acted  with  wisdom 
and  courage  in  the  matter.  Now,  for  many  years,  the  authority 
and  power  of  the  State  have  been  freely  exerted  in  innumerable 
ways  to  the  extension  and  betterment  of  school  property,  and  the 
improvement  of  the  schools. 

Extent  and  Manner  of  Supervision. 

When  New  York  first  took  action  looking  to  the  organization  of 
common  schools,  town  commissioners  with  trustees  in  subdistricts 
were  provided  for.  When  the  time  came  to  set  about  reducing 
the  disconnected  schools,  which  under  her  aid  and  encouragement 


24 


had  been  organized  in  her  cities  and  towns  and  along  her 
picturesque  hillsides  and  valleys,  into  something  like  an  organized 
and  related  system,  she  did  it  through  a general  system  of  super- 
visory officers,  a plan  which  has  since  been  put  in  operation  in  all 
the  States  of  the  Union,  but  in  the  adoption  of  which  she  clearly 
led  the  way. 

In  1812,  an  act  was  passed  providing  for  the  appointment,  by 
the  counsel  of  appointment,  of  a State  Superintendent  of  Common 
Schools.  The  same  statute  also  provided  for  the  election  in  each 
town,  at  the  annual  town  meeting,  of  three  commissioners  to  super- 
intend and  manage  the  affairs  of  the  schools  within  their  town. 
In  1814,  this  statute  was  reenacted  with  some  amendments,  among 
which  was  a provision  that  there  should  also  be  chosen  at  each 
town  meeting  “ a suitable  number  of  inhabitants  not  to  exceed 
six,”  to  act  with  the  three  commissioners  as  inspectors  of  common 
schools. 

Upon  the  office  of  Superintendent  of  Common  Schools  being 
established,  Gideon  Hawley,  then  a young  lawyer,  and  whom  I 
recollect  as  a pleasant  and  dignified  old  gentleman  on  the  streets 
of  Albany  sixty  years  later,  was  appointed  to  fill  it.  His  vigor- 
ous intellectual  powers  and  his  devotion  to  the  duties  of  his  posi- 
tion brought  a stately  and  compact  system  out  of  disorganization, 
chaos  and  confusion,  and  gained  for  him  a large  share  of  public 
confidence  and  esteem.  But  he  did  not  get  on  well  with  the 
wicked  politicians  with  which  the  State  seems  to  have  been 
infested  in  those  early  days.  The  counsel  of  appointment  removed 
him  just  prior  to  the  expiration  of  its  own  life,  as  provided  by  the 
Constitution  of  1821,  and  appointed  Welcome  Esleeck  in  his 
place.  So  strong  was  the  public  indignation  concerning  this  act, 
that  the  Legislature  promptly  abolished  the  office  of  Superinten- 
dent, and  devolved  the  duties  thereof  upon  the  office  of  Secretary 
of  State. 

Chapter  260  of  the  Laws  of  1841,  is  very  important  in  that  it 
provided  for  the  appointment,  by  the  board  of  supervisors  in 
each  county,  of  a deputy  superintendent  of  common  schools  for 
the  county,  except  that  in  counties  having  more  than  200  school 
districts,  they  were  to  appoint  two  deputies.  Here  we  find  the 
beginning  of  the  county  or  district  commissioner  system. 


25 


In  1843,  the  offices  of  town  commissioners  and  inspectors  were 
abolished,  and  provision  was  made  for  the  election  in  each  town 
at  town-meeting,  of  a “ town  superintendent  of  common  schools.” 

In  1847,  the  office  of  county  deputy-superintendent  or  county 
superintendent,  as  it  had  come  to  be  called,  was  abolished. 

In  1854,  by  a bill  introduced  by  Hon.  William  H.  Robertson, 
then  and  now  the  Senator  from  the  Westchester  district,  and 
always  the  steadfast  and  able  friend  of  the  schools,  the  State 
Department  of  Public  Instruction  was  organized,  and  the  office  of 
Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction  was  created. 

In  1856,  the  office  of  town  superintendent  was  abolished,  and 
that  of  school  commissioner  was  again  created. 

Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  we  have  had  supervision  by  State 
officers  since  1812,  by  county  or  district  officers  from  1841  to  1847 
and  from  1856  to  the  present  time,  and  by  town  officers  from  1795 
to  1856.  The  general  features  of  this  comprehensive  plan  of 
school  supervision  have  affected  the  development  of  the  school 
system  most  advantageously. 

Eminent  Superintendents. 

In  the  list  of  State  Superintendents,  some  very  eminent  names 
appear. 

Gideon  Hawley  was,  in  his'  way,  truly  a great  man.  Of  lofty 
personal  attributes  and  great  natural  dignity  of  character,  yet 
modest  and  retiring  in  demeanor,  he  was  methodical,  pains- 
taking and  persevering  to  the  last  degree,  the  ideal  man  through 
the  period  of  construction  and  organization.  For  the  paltry  sum 
of  $300  per  year,  he  perfected  a system  for  the  management  of  the 
School  Fund,  and  for  the  organization  of  districts,  provided  for 
the  fair  and  equitable  distribution  of  the  bounty  of  the  State  in 
each  district,  and  set  in  operation  the  vast  and  intricate  machinery 
of  the  State  school  system.  The  State  never  rewarded  him  for 
his  disinterested  labors,  but  posterity  will  not  withhold  the  credit 
which  is  his  due. 

Particularly  fortunate  was  the  State  in  its  general  superinten- 
dents from  1826  to  1845.  This  period  is  covered  by  the  continu- 
ous administration  of  four  great  men — Azariah  C.  Flagg,  John 
A.  Dix,- John  C.  Spencer  and  Samuel  Young. 

4 


26 


The  first  had  been  in  the  Legislature  several  years  before  com- 
ing to  this  work,  and  went  from  it  to  the  office  of  Comptroller  of  . 
the  State,  which  he  filled  from  1834  to  1846,  and  rounded  out  a 
reputation  as  one  of  the  truly  eminent  men  of  the  State. 

Of  General  Dix,  the  world  knows.  Before  he  put  his  great,  . 
natural  and  scholastic  abilities  at  the  service  of  our  school  sys- 
tem, he  had  been  on  a special  and  delicate  mission  to  Denmark, 
and  received  high  military  honor,  including  the  office  of  Adjutant- 
General  of  the  State.  He  afterwards  held  innumerable  positions 
of  public  trust,  including  those  of  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  United 
States  Senator,  Major-General  in  the  United  States  army  during 
the  rebellion,  and  finally  Governor  of  this  State. 

Mr.  Spencer  was  a graduate  of  Union,  and  had  served  one  term 
as  Attorney- General,  one  term  in  Congress,  and  two  in  the  State 
Senate,  and  had  served  as  a Commissioner  in  revising  the  statutes 
of  the  State,  before  he  became  Superintendent  of  Common 
Schools,  and  was  Secretary  of  War  and  Secretary  of  the  Treasury 
afterward. 

Samuel  Young  had  been  in  each  House  of  the  Legislature,  had 
served  as  Canal  Commissioner  from  1816  to  1840,  and  was  the 
Democratic  candidate  for  Governor  against  Mr.  Clinton  in  1824. 
Incidentally  it  is  amusing  to  recall  that  in  more  illiberal  times 
than  these,  he  once  denied  an  application  to  revoke  the  certificate 
of  a teacher  for  dancing,  card-playing  and  drinking,  on  the  ground 
that  he  did  the  same  things  himself  when  a young  man. 

I speak  of  these  four  men  with  some  particularity,  not  so  much 
because  they  otherwise  attained  such  great  prominence,  as  to 
recall  the  qualities  which  they  brought  to  the  discharge  of  the 
duties  of  Superintendent,  and  to  point  out  their  influence  upon 
the  affairs  of  the  schools.  They  occupied  the  office  through  a 
trying  and  critical  period.  They  enjoyed  the  office  and  filled  it. 
They  shaped  the  policy  and  gave  tone  and  substance  to  the  whole 
system.  Their  decisions  have,  in  many  instances,  become  the 
common  law  of  the  schools.  Their  strong  sense  of  right  and  their 
uncompromising  steadfastness  constituted  a secure  fortress  against 
which  the  waves  of  ignorance,  prejudice  and  controversy  might 
beat  harmlessly  and  without  effect.  Other  names  are  entitled  to 
a place  upon  the  bright  side  of  the  temple  of  fame,  and  to  share 


27 


in  the  gratitude  of  the  commonwealth  for  exerting  an  exceptional 
influence  in  behalf  of  her  schools,  but  it  was  the  matchless  leader- 
ship of  these  four  great  men,  from  1826  to  1845,  which,  according  to 
Horace  Mann  and  Henry  Barnard,  placed  the  New  York  system 
in  the  advance  of  all  the  rest  at  the  end  of  that  period. 

To  every  one  of  the  old  State  Superintendents  may  be  traced 
some  prominent  feature  of  our  present  school  system.  Besides 
those  whose  names  I have  mentioned,  Nathaniel  S.  Benton  and 
Christopher  Morgan,  Henry  S.  Eandall  and  Elias  W.  Leaven- 
worth, Victor  M.  Bice  and  Henry  H.  Van  Dyck,  were  strong  men, 
all  of  them.  The  aggressiveness  of  some  of  them,  and  the  sub- 
stantial conservatism  of  others,  perhaps  in  equal  degree,  have 
impressed  themselves  upon  the  work  of  the  schools,  and  so  com- 
bined all  in  a common  system,  as  to  carry  the  best  feature  of  each 
to  all  the  remotest  parts  of  the  State. 

Necessary  Authority. 

The  extreme  decentralization  of  authority,  the  mistaken  idea 
that  the  operation  of  the  schools  should  largely  be  left  to  local 
direction,  has  been  a great  drawback  upon  American  public 
schools.  The  power  and  authority  which,  at  a very  early  day,  this 
State  vested  in  its  School  Department,  has  given  it  an  advantage 
over  its  neighbors,  which  they  will  recover  only  with  extreme 
difficulty.  It  is  possible  that  this  authority  has  been  injudiciously 
or  erroneously  exercised  upon  occasions.  I do  not  believe  it  has 
ever  been  exercised  maliciously  or  influenced  by  unworthy  con- 
siderations. In  any  event,  the  presence  of  such  an  exalted  power, 
the  fact  that  it  may  be  speedily  and  conclusively  exercised,  and 
that,  ordinarily,  it  is  well  exercised,  has  quelled  disputes,  shaped 
policy,  directed  and  applied  energy,  procured  support,  concen- 
trated effort,  made  the  school  system  the  creature  of  the  State, 
and  in  innumerable  ways  promoted  its  healthful  and  productive 
activity.  For  the  same  reasons,  if  not  in  equal  degree,  local  super- 
vision has  been  helpful  to  the  development  of  the  school  system. 
The  work  of  the  city  superintendent  and  the  county  commissioner 
has  promoted  uniformity,  put  out  incompetency,  aided  and 
encouraged  the  timid,  directed  the  strong,  curbed  the  passionate, 
and  in  more  ways  than  can  be  mentioned,  given  effectiveness 


28 


to  tlie  means  and  tlie  energies  devoted  to  the  service  of  the 
schools.  In  short,  the  system  of  supervision  which  is  everywhere 
present,  with  its  authority  to  regulate  buildings,  certify  teachers, 
control  all  the  concerns  of  the  schools,  and  which  is  required  to 
collate  and  report  the  facts,  and  is  held  in  a large  measure 
responsible  for  results,  has  been  a potent  influence  in  advancing 
the  character  and  efficiency  of  the  schools. 

Pkofessional  Training  of  Teachers. 

The  next  feature  which  must  attract  the  attention,  in  investi- 
gating the  causes  which  have  been  most  potential  in  advancing  the 
State  free  school  system,  is  the  continuous  and  costly  effort  to 
improve  the  teaching  service.  Aside  from  an  exceedingly  small 
number  of  prominent  positions,  the  compensation  of  teachers 
has,  from  the  beginning,  been  so  moderate  that  persons  with 
the  required  qualifications  would  be  allured  to  other  occupa- 
tion by  larger  remuneration.  It  must  be  admitted,  also, 
that  the  uncertainties  and  humiliating  conditions  surround- 
ing a teacher’s  employment,  are  frequently  such  as  to  drive 
an  independent  and  self-respecting  person  to  other  work 
at  no  better  pay.  For  these  and  other  reasons  not  necessary 
here  to  enumerate,  the  greater  number  of  persons  who  com- 
mence teaching,  do  so  upon  the  understanding  that  it  is  only  a 
temporary  expedient,  and  not  a permanent  means  of  livelihood. 
This  has  made  it  exceedingly  difficult  to  secure  the  requisite 
number  of  persons  completely,  or  even  measurably,  adapted  to 
the  instruction  of  the  schools.  This  has  been  largely  so  from  the 
beginning,  but  the  fact  has  been  more  prominent  in  recent  years 
because  the  qualities  which  constitute  a good  teacher,  and  the 
vast  importance  of  having  such  qualities  in  every  school-room, 
have  come  to  be  so  much  more  generally  understood. 

The  best  statesmanship  of  New  York  appreciated  this  matter 
from  a comparatively  early  date,  and  at  once  began  special  efforts 
for  training  competent  teachers  for  the  schools.  In  his  annual 
message  to  the  Legislature,  in  1826,  Governor  DeWitt  Clinton 
referred  to  the  subject  in  these  words  : 

With  a full  admission  of  the  merits  of  several  who  now  officiate 
in  that  capacity,  still  it  must  be  conceded  that  the  information  of 
the  instructors  of  our  common  schools  does  not  extend  beyond 


rudimental  education ; that  our  expanding  population  requires 
constant  accessions  to  their  numbers ; and  that  to  realize  these 
views,  it  is  necessary  that  some  new  plan  for  obtaining  able 
teachers  should  be  devised.  I therefore  recommend  a seminary 
for  the  education  of  teachers.  A compliance  with  this  recom- 
mendation will  have  the  most  benign  influence  on  individual 
happiness  and  social  prosperity.” 

In  his  annual  message  in  1827,  the  Governor  recurs  to  the  sub- 
ject with  added  emphasis,  and  goes  so  far  as  to  recommend  a 
central  school  in  each  county  for  the  special  education  of  teach- 
ers. In  that  very  year  the  Legislature  added  $150,000  to  the 
capital  of  the  Literature  Fund,  “to  promote  the  education  of 
teachers.” 

From  this  time  there  was  much  discussion  of  the  subject  until 
a statute  was  enacted  in  May,  1834,  which  authorized  the  Kegents 
to  spend  a portion  of  the  Literature  Fund  in  specially  educating 
teachers,  and  this  brought  into  existence  the  teachers’  classes  in 
the  academies.  The  sum  of  $500  was  given  to  purchase  books 
and  apparatus  for  an  academy  in  each  of  the  Senate  districts  as 
they  then  existed,  and  the  further  sum  of  $400  was  given  for  the 
support  of  an  instructor  in  each  academy.  The  classes  for  teach- 
ers were  opened  in  these  academies  in  the  autumn  of  1835.  In 
succeeding  years  the  appropriations  were  increased,  and  thus  the 
number  of  classes  was  multiplied.  This  work  has  been  continuous 
to  the  present  time.  A.  year  ago  the  supervision  of  these  classes 
was  transferred  from  the  Board  of  Regents  to  the  Department  of 
Public  Instruction,  and  this  year  the  appropriation  was  raised 
from  $30,000  to  $60,000. 

In  April,  1843,  the  first  teachers’  institute  was  held  at  Ithaca. 
There  were  twenty-eight  teachers  present,  and  the  session  con- 
tinued two  weeks.  These  gatherings  of  teachers  were  at  first 
voluntary,  but  soon  came  to  be  regulated  and  supported  by  the 
State.  In  later  years  they  have  been  held  with  regularity  in  each 
commissioner  district,  and  teachers  have  been  paid  for  attendance, 
while  attendance  has  been  compulsory. 

In  1844,  the  first  State  normal  school  was  opened  at. Albany. 
Others  have  been  established  from  time  to  time  until  now  there 
are  ten  of  these  institutions,  and  the  eleventh  is  to  be  opened  in  the 
coming  autumn.  These  schools  have  real  estate  worth  $1,400,000, 


30 


and  furniture  and  apparatus  valued  at  $150,000  more.  Last 
year  they  had  all  told  6,468  pupils  and  graduated  537.  The  State 
paid  for  the  maintenance  of  these  institutions  last  year, 
$272,581.85.  In  March  last  the  name  of  the  original  school  was 
changed  to  that  of  “ The  New  York  State  Normal  College,”  and  it 
will  hereafter  receive  only  pupils  who  have  more  fully  completed 
their  work  in  subject  matter  in  the  ordinary  schools,  and  will 
devote  its  entire  time  to  the  technical  training  of  teachers,  not 
only  for  the  elementary,  but  the  advanced  schools. 

In  1870,  the  city  of  New  York  opened  a normal  college  for  the 
purpose  of  preparing  teachers  for  the  public  schools  of  that  city, 
and  from  which  the  supply  is  largely  drawn ; and  in  nearly  every 
other  city  of  the  State,  special  schools  or  classes  are  continually 
maintained  for  the  same  purpose.  In  most  cities  of  the  State  no 
teachers  are  certified  or  employed  who,  in  addition  to  scholastic 
attainments,  do  not  show  a year  or  more  of  professional  training. 
A bill  to  establish  this  principle  in  all  cities  and  villages,  employ- 
ing a superintendent  of  schools,  passed  the  last  Legislature  with 
but  little  opposition,  and  only  failed  to  become  a law  for  want  of 
the  approval  of  the  Governor.  The  law  would  only  have  hastened 
matters  somewhat.  The  inevitable  trend  is  in  this  direction. 
The  city  that  does  not  exact  as  much  will  soon  find  itself  behind 
the  times.  Wdth  or  without  law,  the  time  will  soon  come  when 
some  special  and  technical  training  will  be  exacted  on  the  part  of 
all  persons  seeking  employment  in  the  schools  of  our  cities  and 
villages. 

In  the  country,  the  uniform  system  of  simultaneous  examina- 
tions for  teachers  and  the  multiplication  of  teachers’  training 
classes  in  the  academies  and  union  schools  are  leading  steadily  in 
the  same  direction. 

The  Empire  State  has  a proud  record  upon  this  matter,  and  I 
refer  to  it  with  pride  and  satisfaction.  She  commenced  the  work  of 
training  teachers  early.  I do  not  claim  for  the  fathers  who  inaugu- 
rated the  work,  sixty  years  ago,  a very  clear  comprehension  of  the 
problems  involved.  They  probably  knew  but  little  of  psychology 
and  pedagogy.  They  were  not  thinking  of  technical  or  professional 
training.  Th^y  were  looking  for  teachers  who  had  knowledge  with- 
out much  reference  to  the  art  of  transmitting  it  successfully.  In 


31 


making  provision  at  public  expense  for  even  the  education  of 
such,  they  builded  up  academies  in  all  parts  of  the  State,  and 
created  centers  where  learning  glowed  to  radiate  and  illumine 
all  the  country  round  about.  They  reared  and  trained  scholars 
who,  in  their  turn,  stimulated  and  promoted  educational  and 
public  school  development  everywhere.  They  heightened  the 
general  intelligence,  and  hastened  the  time  when  the  common 
sentiment  of  the  people  will  forbid  that  helpless  children  shall  be 
delivered  into  the  care  of  other  children,  or  of  weaklings  and 
unfortunates  on  the  one  hand,  as  well  as  the  unfit  favorites  of 
small  politicians  on  the  other.  They  opened  the  way  for  the  early 
understanding  of  the  difficult  problem  involved,  and  the  general 
acceptance  of  the  proposition  that  teachers  in  the  schools  must 
be  not  only  liberally  educated,  but  specially  and  technically 
trained,  or  come  short  of  the  requirements  of  the  service.  All 
honor  to  the  statesmanship  which  inaugurated,  as  well  as  to  that 
which  has  since  sustained  and  prosecuted  this  work  so  intelligently 
and  generously.  It  has  contributed  more  than  it  knew  to  the 
intellectual  and  moral  health  of  the  commonwealth. 

Voluntary  Associations. 

The  remaining  great  influence  which  has  promoted  the  healthful 
development  of  our  public  school  system,  and  which  I shall  feel 
justified  in  taking  time  to  consider,  is  that  of  the  voluntary 
associations  of  the  friends  of  education,  and  particularly  of  teach- 
ers. This  influence  has  been  a most  consequential  one.  The 
order  in  which  I mention  it  must  not  be  accepted  as  an  indication 
of  its  importance.  I think  you  will  find  the  subject  interesting. 
I know  you  would  if  there  was  time  to  thoroughly  investigate  it. 

“Society  of  Associated  Teachers,”  New  York  City,  1794. 

In  the  custody  of  the  State  library  at  Albany,  in  company  with 
the  original  Andre  papers,  the  original  copy  of  President  Lincoln’s 
Emancipation  Proclamation,  the  original  of  Washington’s  Farewell 
Address,  there  is  a manuscript  volume  of  more  interest  to  us  than 
any  of  them.  It  is  the  original  minutes  of  the  first  permanent  or 
continuing  teachers’  association  in  America.  It  was  an  associa- 
tion of  schoolmasters,  organized  in  New  York  city  in  May,  1794. 


32 


The  minutes  are  neatly  and  correctly  kept,  and  indicate  that  any 
one  of  the  secretaries  would  have  been  able  to  pass  the  State 
examination,  if  they  had  had  such  mechanical  contrivances  for 
testing  the  qualifications  of  teachers  in  those  days.  The  journal 
shows  that  meetings  were  held  with  much  regularity  at  least  till 
1807.  The  first  meeting  was  held  May  15,  1794,  at  the  school- 
room of  “ Citizen,  Gad  Ely.”  The  first  resolution  adopted  after 
agreeing  to  organize,  was  one  “ that  the  person  filling  the  chair 
for  the  time  being,  be  authorized  to  call  to  order  any  member 
when  necessary.”  The  fact  that  this  precaution*  was  deemed 
necessary  will  at  once  put  us  on  terms  of  easy  fellowship 
with  these  early  teachers.  John  Wood  was  chosen  chairman, 
and  John  Winchell  secretary.  Fifteen  persons  were  present 
at  the  first  meeting.  Opposite  nearly  every  name  in  the  list,  some 
hand  has  written  the  words  “ since  dead.”  It  was  essentially  a 
secret  society.  It  may  seem  superfluous,  therefore,  to  state  the 
related  fact  that  no  ladies  were  admitted.  Members  were  elected 
by  ballot,  requiring  a three-fourths  vote  to  elect,  and  were  received 
into  membership  by  an  initiatory  ceremony.  The  admission  fee 
was  one  dollar.  Meetings  were  held  in  the  school-rooms  or  at 
the  residences  of  the  members,  and  ordinarily  about  every  week. 
From  the  twenty -first  of  March  to  the  twenty-first  of  September, 
the  association  met  at  8 o’clock  and  adjourned  at  10,  and  from  the 
twenty-first  of  September  to  the  twenty-first  of  March,  it  met  at  7 
and  adjourned  at  9 o’clock.  The  time  of  meeting  suggests  early 
hours  and  regular  habits  in  somewhat  striking  contrast  with 
those  observed  by  their  successors  in  office.  Six  shillings  were 
paid  to  the  secretary  that  he  might  purchase  a record  book,  and 
he  secured  a good  one,  bound  in  leather,  every  page  of  which  is 
water-lined  with  an  English  coat-of-arms,  and  the  letters  “ G.  K.” 
in  remembrance  of  the  fact  that  one  of  the  Georges  was  king. 
On  July  21,  1794,  the  common  council  granted  the  association  the 
right  to  meet  in  the  common  council  chamber  “ at  such  time  as  the 
same  shall  not  be  occupied  by  the  public  on  business  or  by  the 
Society  for  the  Promotion  of  Christian  Knowledge,  the  Medical 
Society,  or  the  St.  Cecilia’s  Society.”  With  the  assurance  of  a 
veteran,  the  infant  at  once  drew  on  the  St.  Cecilia’s  Society  to 
change  its  night  of  meeting  for  the  better  convenience  of 


33 


the  schoolmasters’  association.  The  officers  were  a president, 
secretary  and  steward.  They  served  for  three  months,  were 
required  to  take  an  obligation  or  pledge  to  perform  faithfully  the 
duties  of  the  several  offices,  and  the  president  and  secretary  were 
fined  twenty-five  cents,  and  the  steward  eighteen  and  one-half 
cents  for  each  absence,  unless  excused. 

But  with  all  these  incidental  matters  which  inspire  a smile,  this 
association  did  substantial  work.  Its  proceedings  were  of  prac- 
tical interest  and  importance.  The  association  assumed  to  act  as 
a breakwater  against  incompetency  in  the  schools.  A committee 
of  seven  was  appointed  to  examine  persons  wishing  to  teach,  and 
such  as  they  found  worthy,  they  certified  to  be  so.  It  is  to  be 
hoped  that  they  did  not  forget  that  they  were  once  young  and 
inexperienced  themselves.  The  association  also  examined  and 
recommended  text-books,  and  evidently  compelled  such  text- 
book publishers  as  there  were,  to  treat  the  society  with  proper  and 
becoming  respect.  The  City  Library  conferred  upon  the  associa- 
tion one  membership  right  in  that  institution,  and  a “ reader”  was 
appointed  to  examine  the  books  and  report  any  information  he 
might  receive,  for  the  good  of  the  society.  When  any  student 
was  so  disorderly  as  to  oblige  the  master  to  expel  him,  the  facts  of 
the  case  were  reported  for  the  information  of  all.  The  association 
assisted  its  members  in  collecting  tuition  fees  from  slow  patrons. 
Among  the  subjects  considered,  the  following  are  observed,  viz. : 
“Is  silent  study  or  studying  aloud  most  conducive  to  the  improve- 
ment of  scholars?”  “Whether  a systematical  method  of  teaching 
penmanship  is  more  eligible  than  such  methods  as  are  commonly 
pursued  ? ” “ Whether  the  practice  of  good  flagellations  by  the 

tutor  is  advantageous  to  the  good  regulation  of  a school  ? ” 
“Whether  it  is  better  to  subject  the  passions  to  reason  or  root 
them  out?  ” “Ought  any  religion  further  than  morality  be  incul- 
cated in  the  schools?”  “Whether  an  indolent  person  of  great 
abilities  or  one  of  inferior  talents  and  assiduity  makes  the  best 
teacher?”  “Is  the  same  mode  of  education  equally  applicable 
to  the  male  and  female  sex  ? ” 

They  decided  that  a “theater,  under  the  usual  regulations,  was 
not  unfavorable  to  morals;”  and  that  “the  present  situation  of 
affairs  was  unfavorable  to  matrimony;”  that  “ it  would  not  be 
5 


34 


good  policy  to  manumit  slaves  in  America  immediately,”  and  the 
association  seems  to  have  gone  to  pieces  in  trying  to  decide 
whether  “ the  mental  powers  of  the  Aborigines  of  North  America 
were  equal  to  those  of  the  Europeans.” 

These  reminiscences  of  this,  the  earliest  of  teachers’  associations, 
might  be  continued  almost  indefinitely.  But  so  much  must  suffice 
for  the  present.  It  was  a primitive  organization,  but  it  shows  a 
devotion  to  their  calling  on  the  part  of  these  old  teachers.  With 
steadfast  earnestness  they  continued  for  thirteen  years  at  least, 
to  maintain  a teachers’  association  for  mutual  improvement, 
and  the  advancement  of  their  schools.  They  had  no  precedents 
to  guide  them,  no  successes  and  failures  to  light  their  path. 
They  did  not  copy  ; they  originated.  History  has  not  yet  done 
them  justice,  but  it  may  not  always  be  so.  The  State  Teachers’ 
Association  may  well  stand  with  uncovered  head,  while  it  respects 
and  honors  their  memory. 

Other  Local  Associations. 

From  the  time  when  the  State  really  assumed  a share  in  the 
support  and  supervision  of  schools,  city,  county  and  town  associa- 
tions of  teachers  became  common,  and  have  had  no  small  part  in 
determining  the  characteristics  of  the  school  system.  Almost  every 
page  in  the  early  books  and  periodicals  related  to  the  interests  of 
education,  reports  the  doings  of  these  local  associations.  As  early 
as  1830,  the  State  superintendent  headed  a movement  for  the 
organization  of  county  and  town  associations  and  for  the  holding 
of  public  celebrations,  and  as  a result,  there  was  marked  activity 
in  the  way  of  organizations  in  all  directions,  and  a notable  increase 
of  public  interest  in  all  the  affairs  of  the  schools. 

First  State  Convention  of  Teachers. 

The  first  State  convention  of  teachers  in  this  State,  and  the  first 
in  any  State,  so  far  as  my  investigations  have  gone,  was  held  at  Utica 
in  October,  1830. , Undoubtedly  a thorough  investigation  would 
reveal  the  circumstances  which  led  to  this  gathering,  as  well  as 
the  facts  touching  its  character  and  its  transactions.  It  is  shrouded 
in  some  mystery,  however.  I am  certain  of  but  one  thing  con- 
cerning it,  and  that  is  that  it  resolved  upon  and  provided 


35 


for  calling  a future  convention.  The  fact  that  it  called  another 
convention  only  three  months  later,  indicates  that  it  was  a slim 
affair,  and  did  little,  if  anything  beyond  this.  The  next  State 
teachers’  convention  was  held  at  Utica,  January  12,  13  and  14, 
1831.  Kev.  Henry  Davis,  D.  D.,  of  Hamilton  College,  was  presi- 
dent. Most  of  the  counties  were  represented,  and  most  of  the 
names  of  the  active  school  men  of  the  day  appear  in  the  roll  of 
the  convention,  but  we  examine  it  in  vain  for  the  name  of  a 
woman.  Committees  were  appointed  as  follows,  viz.:  On  the 
qualifications  of  teachers ; on  the  studies  and  exercises  proper  for 
common  schools ; on  appointing  one  or  more  agents  for  carrying 
into  effect  the  objects  of  the  convention ; on  the  construction  and 
furnishing  of  school-rooms ; on  the  school  law  of  the  State. 

The  question  as  to  whether  the  State  should  establish  normal 
schools  or  utilize  the  academies  for  educating  teachers,  was  as 
hot  then  as  it  ever  has  been  since.  The  convention,  for  obvious 
reasons,  declared  in  favor  of  utilizing  the  existing  schools. 

The  committee  on  “ studies  and  exercises  in  the  schools,” 
reported  that  the  following  studies  should  be  pursued,  viz. : Bead- 
ing, writing,  spelling,  mental  and  practical  arithmetic,  geography, 
English  grammar,  composition,  a method  of  keeping  accounts,  some 
brief  systems  of  political  economy,  and  some  of  the  simpler  parts 
of  the  natural  sciences.”  The  committee  observe  that  they  are 
aware  that  their  list  is  too  large  to  be  pursued  in  a single  school, 
especially  if  the  number  of  pupils  is  large.  They  urge  by  way  of 
a solution  of  the  difficulty,  that  one  teacher  should  never  have 
charge  of  more  than  thirty  or  forty  pupils,  and  that  where  the 
school  is  larger  than  this,  grading  should  be  resorted  to.  The 
committee  urge  among  other  things,  that  the  schools  should 
“ call  into  action  the  intellectual  powers  of  the  pupils,  and  teach 
them  by  independent  investigation,  to  arrive  at  conclusions  for 
themselves,  which  shall  be  according  to  truth;”  that  pupils 
“ should  not  waste  time  in  loading  the  memory  with  what  is  not 
understood ; ” that  they  “ should  not  be  suffered  to  pronounce 
words  without  a knowledge  of  their  meaning;”  that  in  arithmetic 
pupils  “ may  derive  much  valuable  improvement  by  the  help  of 
sensible  objects,  without  being  burdened  with  rules  above  their 
comprehension*” 


36 


This  convention  sixty  years  ago,  also  faced  the  text-book 
question,  but  precipitately  surrendered  in  its  presence,  and  con- 
tented itself  with  saying  that  while  the  multiplicity  of  text-books 
was  a great  evil,  still  they  thought  it  unwise  for  them  to  enter  a 
field  which  would  require  them  to  discriminate,  and  with  apparent 
solemnity,  expressed  the  belief  that  “ if  a remedy  shall  be  found 
out  for  the  other  defects  in  the  system  of  common  school  instruc- 
tion, the  text-book  evil  will  gradually  disappear.” 

To  all  of  this  the  convention  agreed.  It  also  provided  for  a 
State  agent  to  go  about,  hold  meetings,  arouse  the  people, 
encourage  teachers,  organize  lyceums,  etc. 

The  convention  seems  to  have  been  in  something  of  a fog 
concerning  the  improvement  of  school-rooms.  It  declared  that 
“ school-houses  are  too  small,  the  ceilings  too  low,  the  windows 
placed  quite  too  near  the  floor,  and  that  too  little  regard  is  paid 
to  the  ventilation  of  the  rooms.”  But,  in  its  opinion,  the  methods 
of  remedying  these  defects  were  “ too  plain  to  require  explana- 
tion.” Then  it  immediately  proceeded  to  explain  and  suggest 
that  “ instead  of  the  plain  ceilings  in  common  use,  arched  ones 
might  be  constructed  with  great  advantage,  and  at  little  additional 
expense ; and  that,  “for  the  purpose  of  ventilating  the  rooms,  the 
contrivance  should  be  rather  to  let  down  the  upper,  than  to  raise 
the  lower  sash  of  the  windows,  as  by  that  means  the  greater  por- 
tion of  the  air,  rendered  unfit  for  respiration,  may  be  easily 
expelled  without  exposing  the  students  seated  next  to  the  wall  to 
currents  which  pass  through  the  windows,  or  tempting  them  to 
gaze  at  external  objects  to  the  neglect  of  their  proper  studies.” 
As  a masterstroke  in  the  then  budding  sciences  of  school  economy 
and  school  architecture,  the  convention  proposed  that  all  schools 
should  adopt  the  plan  upon  which  the  principal  room  in  the  Low- 
ville  Academy  was  constructed,  and  proceeded  to  describe  it  as 
follows,  viz. : “ The  students  are  so  seated  for  study  that  while  no  two 
of  them  can  see  each  other,  the  instructor  has  a full  view  of  all  his 
pupils.  This  mode  of  seating  pupils  is  easily  carried  into  effect  by 
having  the  base  of  the  building  a dodecagon  or  a polygon  of  a less 
number  of  sides,  separated  into  two  unequal  divisions  by  a parti- 
tion, and  in  the  larger  division  should  be  the  seat  and  table  of  the 
instructor.  On  the  floor  of  the  principal  room  there  should  be  con- 
structed three  or  four  concentric  ranges  of  seats,  ascending  from 


37 


tlie  center  towards  the  periphery  of  the  room  — as  in  a theater  — 
and  crossed  by  partitions  five  feet  high,  regularly  converging 
toward  the  instructor’s  seat.”  If  pupils  failed  to  emerge  from  this 
formidable  machine,  with  their  physical,  mental  and  moral  natures 
thoroughly  developed  and  well-polished  olf,  the  educational  situa- 
tion would  seem  to  be  in  as  serious  a fi:s  as  the  pupils  were  when 
in  the  box. 

We  must  pass  from  this  early  convention,  although  we  might 
pursue  our  investigations  into  its  proceedings,  with  great  interest* 
The  convention  concluded  its  deliberations  by  organizing  a New 
York  State  Lyceum,  and  by  adopting  an  address  to  the  public  in 
which  it  set  forth,  with  much  ability,  the  needs  of  the  schools, 
and  called  a meeting  of  the  “ friends  of  education  from  every 
State  in  the  Union,”  in  New  York  city,  on  the  first  Wednesday  in 
the  following  May,  for  the  formation  of  “a  National  Lyceum  — a 
republic  of  letters,  coextensive  with  one  polical  confederacy, 
whose  aim  it  shall  be  to  establish,  as  far  as  practicable,  a uni- 
versal system  of  education,  reciprocally  to  yield  and  enjoy  the 
advantages  of  each  other’s  discovery,  to  bind  ourselves  in  firmer 
union,  by  the  humane,  yet  intimate  association  of  literature  and 
science,  and  relieve  the  asperities  of  conflicting  interests  and 
selfish  jealousies  by  the  interchange  of  intellectual  treasure.” 

Other  State  Conventions. 

Other  conventions  were  subsequently  held,  but  not  with 
regularity,  until  1845.  One  occurred  at  Albany  in  September, 
1836,  and  another  at  Utica  in  May,  1837.  In  May,  1842,  a State 
convention  of  county  superintendents  was  held  at  Utica,  which 
was  presided  over  by  Jabez  D.  Hammond  the  author  of  the 
“Political  History  of  New  York.”  Forty-two  of  the  fifty-nine 
counties  were  represented,  and  Colonel  Young,  the  State  Super- 
intendent, Horace  Mann  and  many  eminent  men  were  present 
and  participated  in  the  deliberations.  Subsequent  gatherings  of 
the  same  character  were  held  at  Eochester  in  1843,  at  Albany  in 
1844,  at  Syracuse  in  1845,  and  at  Albany  again  in  1846. 

Permanent  Organization  of  “The  State  Teachers’  Association.” 

A most  important  convention  assembled  at  Syracuse  on  July 
30  and  31,  1845,  if  its  importance  is  to  be  measured  by  permanent 
results.  It  was  the  first  meeting  of  a permanent  and  enduring  State 


38 


Teachers’  Association.  On  the  first  day  185  delegates  were  pre* 
sent  from  thirty-two  counties.  On  the  next  day  300  teachers  were 
present.  William  Boss  of  Seneca  was  temporary,  and  J.  W.  Bulkley 
of  Albany,  permanent  president.  Substantially  the  first  business 
was  to  invite  all  the  text-book  agents  to  address  the  convention, 
and  Mr.  A.  L.  Smith  of  New  York,  agent  for  Smith’s  geography, 
arithmetic,  grammar  and  divers  other  books ; Mr.  H.  H.  Haw- 
ley, publisher  of  Perkins’  mathematical  series ; Mr.  Silas  Cornell, 
manufacturer  of  globes,  Mr.  A.  B.  Boyle,  a phonographist,  Mr.  B. 
Mortimer,  agent  for  Salem  Town’s  books,  and  others,  overcame 
the  traditional  and  proverbial  modesty  of  their  craft  sufficiently 
to  advocate  their  respective  claims  before  the  convention.  This 
convention  discussed  ably  and  seriously  the  leading  educational 
questions  of  the  day,  including  the  reading  of  the  Bible  in  the 
schools,  the  necessity  for  pedagogical  literature,  school  discipline, 
and  the  education  and  elevation  of  the  teaching  profession.  It 
determined  upon  and  effected  a permanent  organization  which  has 
met  each  year  since,  except  that  the  meeting  of  1850,  which  was 
to  have  been  in  New  York  city,  was  not  held  because  of  the 
prevalence  of  cholera.  This  gathering  constitutes  the  forty-fifth 
in  the  series  of  annual  meetings. 

And  what  a notable  and  noble  series  of  educational  meetings 
it  has  been ! How  they  have  been  anticipated,  and  how  they 
have  been  remembered  ! What  tender  ties  of  affection  have  been 
here  welded ! How  many  minds  have  been  here  opened  to  the 
light ! The  destiny  of  how  many  children  has  been  here 
influenced  and  directed  ! How  these  meetings  have  affected  the 
educational  policy  of  the  State  and  the  United  States. 

Other  Associations. 

At  the  annual  meeting  of  the  State  Teachers’  Association  in 
Troy,  in  August,  1856,  the  superintendents  in  the  cities  and 
villages,  and  the  county  commissioners,  formed  the  State  Associa- 
tion of  Commissioners  and  Superintendents.  The  association  has 
met  regularly  since.  This  organization  has  really  come  to  be 
distinctively  an  association  of  county  commissioners,  as  the 
superintendents  have  since  associated  themselves  together  in  still 
another  organization. 


39 


On  the  4th  day  of  August,  1863,  the  first  meeting  of  officers  and 
teachers  in  our  colleges  and  academies,  convened  by  the  Board  of 
Regents,  and  since  called  the  University  Convocation,”  occurred, 
and  a similar  meeting  has  been  annually  held  at  the  Capitol 
since. 

In  1883,  at  Syracuse,  the  superintendents  in  cities  and  villages 
met  and  organized  the  “ State  Superintendents’  Council,”  and 
have  held  annual  meetings  at  different  points  since. 

On  the  29th  of  December,  1885,  the  secondary  principals  of  the 
State  met  in  the  High  School  building  at  Syracuse,  and  effected 
an  organization  which  has  since  met  regularly,  and  has  come  to 
be  known  as  the  “ Conference  of  Associated  Academic  Principals.” 

Each  of  these  organizations  is  in  vigorous  life,  with  a good 
record  and  excellent  prospects. 

Influences  of  the  Associations. 

The  beneficial  influences  which  all  these  voluntary  associations 
have  exerted,  and  continue  to  exert,  in  behalf  of  the  school  system, 
is  inestimable. 

For  a great  many  years  a little  company  of  gentlemen  with 
scientific  or  literary  tendencies,  and  known  as  the  “Albany 
Institute,”  has  met  semi-monthly  in  that  city,  and  discussed  sub- 
jects of  mutual  interest.  The  meetings  are  so  quiet  and  unob- 
trusive that  they  attract  but  little  attention,  and  influence  the 
social  life  of  the  Capital  but  imperceptibly.  Yet  John  Ericsson 
gained  his  idea  of  the  revolving  turret  for  armed  war  vessels  from  a 
volume  of  the  transactions  of  the  “ Albany  Institute,”  and  from  a 
paper  read  and  long  since  forgotten,  and  with  this  idea  he  blew 
the  Merrimac  out  of  water  and  drove  to  cover  the  most  formidable 
armed  cruisers  which  the  best  engineers,  unlimited  means  and 
the  most  skillful  iron  and  steel-workers  of  England  could  produce, 
and  restored  the  honor  and  regained  the  prestige  of  the  United 
States  flag  upon  the  high  seas. 

Who  shall  say  that  the  deliberations  of  any  association  of 
thinkers  go  for  naught  ? And  who  shall  undertake  to  calculate 
the  extent  to  which  all  these  regular  and  continuous  gatherings 
of  teachers  have  promoted  the  general  intelligence  and  the  mental 
strength  of  the  State  ? There  is  no  standard  for  such  a measure- 


40 


ment.  As  I have  read  the  records  of  their  proceedings,  I have  been 
again  and  again  struck  with  the  fact  that  the  leading  reforms  in  the 
law  governing  the  schools,  as  well  as  in  the  procedure  of  the  schools 
themselves,  have  originated  with  and  been  accomplished  through 
the  operations  of  these  associations.  They  have  concentrated 
forces  and  they  have  distributed  information.  On  the  one  hand, 
they  have  removed  misunderstandings,  originated  suggestions, 
carried  the  ripest  experience  and  the  best  thought  of  each  teacher 
into  every  city,  and  every  village,  and  every  district ; and  on  the 
other  hand,  they  have  combined  educational  effort,  directed  edu- 
cational energy  and  shaped  the  educational  policy  of  the  common- 
wealth. Each  has  become  a power  in  itself,  but  the  combined 
strength  of  all  is  invulnerable.  Happily,  fellowship  between 
them  is  now  so  complete  that  no  unusual  movement  is  prosecuted 
without  the  concurrence  of  all,  and  with  such  cooperation  the 
success  of  the  undertaking  is  practically  inevitable. 

Small  Matters. 

I have  now,  in  a way,  covered  the  ground  contemplated  at  the 
outset.  How  inadequately  I have  been  able  to  do  so,  I am  fully 
aware.  Whether  or  not  I have  been  able  to  interest  you,  I can 
truly  say  that  such  investigation  as,  at  odd  moments,  I have  been 
able  to  make  into  the  circumstances  which  produced  and  the 
causes  which  have  advanced  the  State  public  school  system,  has 
been  a delight  to  me  — such  a delight  as  I know  can  not  be  trans- 
mitted through  any  ability  of  mine  to  tell  the  story.  I would  I 
had  the  time  to  tell  you  of  some  of  the  small  but  interesting  and 
amusing  matters  I have  come  across  in  my  reading; — of  the  com- 
plaints of  the  Kegents  and  that  first  New  York  city  association, 
because  their  lottery  investments  did  not  pay  better  dividends ; 
of  the  tribulations  in  the  State  Superintendent’s  office  before 
Mr.  Spencer  proposed  printed  forms  for  trustees’  reports  in  1841 ; 
of  General  Dix’s  hurry  and  anxiety  to  get  out  his  report  “ before 
the  close  of  navigation;”  of  the  poorer  pay  and  “boarding  around  ” 
experiences  of  the  earlier  teachers ; of  “ summer  schools  ” and 
“winter  schools;”  of  the  physical  struggles  to  decide  whether  the 
teacher  or  the  big  boys  should  control  the  school ; of  David  P.  Page, 
the  first  normal  principal,  going  about  with  horse  and  wagon  to 


41 


/> 

examine  candidates  for  admission  and  ordinarily  determining  that 
they  were  qaalified;  of  Dr.  E.  A Sheldon  and  Susan  B.  Anthony, 
noble  man  and  noble  woman  that  they  were  and  are,  sitting  side  by 
side  in  this  association  year  after  year,  he  with  his  resolutions  for 
the  consolidation  and  more  effective  organization  of  educational 
/.  work,  and  she  with  her  continual  claim  for  equal  rights  and  a fair 
' show  for  her  sex. 

I would  like  to  tell  you  also  of  John  Lancaster  and  the  Lan- 
castrian methods;  of  the  philanthrophy  of  James  Wadsworth,  who 
put  “ The  School  and  the  Schoolmaster,”  a most  excellent  volume 
of  650  pages,  in  the  hand  of  every  officer  and  teacher  in  the  State ; 
of  the  reciprocal  influences  of  the  old  academies  upon  the  com- 
. mon  schools  and  the  schools  upon  the  academies ; of  the  stubborn 
contest  with  sectarianism ; of  the  growth  of  high  schools  and  night 
schools  and  technical  schools, — of  a thousand  things  which  have 
contributed  to  the  development  of  the  school  system  in  its  present 
form. 

The  field  is  a rich  one  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  that  some  loyal  son 
or  daughter  of  the  State,  who  is  jealous  of  her  glory  and  has  an 
,,  inclination  and  a gift  for  original  research,  will  enter  and 
^ cultivate  it  for  the  advantage  and  benefit  of  all  her  children. 

New  York  Leading  the  Nation. 

Looking  back  over  the  field  we  can  not  escape  being  impressed 
J with  the  fact  that  New  York  has  scarcely  had  full  credit  for  the 
' magnificent  part  she  has  borne  in  making  the  history  of  our 
common  country.  Few  people,  very  few,  have  the  leisure  or  the 
inclination  for  original  research.  The  multitude  are  only  too 
s ready  to  take  statements  at  second  hand.  It  is  commonly  as 
, helpful  to  the  fame  of  a people  to  have  had  fervent  poets,  orators 
y and  historians  among  their  sons,  as  to  have  performed  the  deeds 
4.'  , which  light  the  beacon  fires  of  history. 

No  one  can  envy  New  England  the  historic  facts,  and  they  are 
‘ radiant  and  innumerable,  which  are  her  honor  and  her  glory. 
Much  less  can  I.  With  an  English  ancestry  who  first  found 
lodgment  and  built  a home  on  the  Massachusetts  coast,  before  the 
seventeenth  century  had  fairly  turned  its  meridian,  and  before 
William  Bradford  and  Miles  Standish  had  gone  to  their  eternal  home, 
6 


42 


with  my  direct  ancestor  and  at  least  two  others  of  my  blood  and 
my  name  in  the  Massachusetts  line  when  Lexington  and  Concord 
fired  the  sliot  “ heard  round  the  world,”  and  Bunker  Hill  rang  the 
Independence  bell  with  a tone  and  a meaning  it  had  never  sounded 
before,  it  would  be  strange  indeed  if  I was  not  jealous  of  all  that 
belongs  to  the  men  and  the  women  who  first  erected  her  civil  and 
religious  institutions,  or  those  other  men  and  women  who  in  later 
years  so  heroically  maintained  and  extended  them.  Their 
character,  their  beliefs  and  their  acts  laid  the  sure  foundation  of 
an  imperishable  fame  which  can  never  be  shadowed  or  disparaged 
by  giving  others  that  credit  which  is  their  due. 

The  colony  at  New  Amsterdam  loved  liberty  as  dearly  and  cer- 
tainly, had  as  true  a conception  of  the  public  institutions  and 
regulations  which  guarantee  civil  and  religious  freedom  as  the 
colony  at  Plymouth.  New  York  has  contributed  as'  liberally  as 
New  England  to  the  material,  as  well  as  the  intellectual  develop- 
ment of  the  country. 

If  these  observations  are  just  in  any  sense,  they  are  as  related 
to  the  building  up  of  a system  of  common  schools.  The  first 
public  school  in  America  of  which  we  have  any  knowledge  was 
upon  Manhattan  Island.  The  principle  that  all  the  property 
should  educate  all  the  children  of  a people  was  first  enforced 
there.  The  oldest  school  in  America  is  now  maintained  at 
No.  248  West  Seventy-fourth  street  in  the  city  of  New  York.  It 
was  in  the  Colony  of  New  York  that  teachers  were  first  required 
to  be  certified  or  licensed.  New  York  was  the  first  State  in  the 
Union  to  levy  a general  tax  for  the  encouragement  of  elementary 
schools,  as  she  was  also  the  first  to  establish  a permanent  State 
Common  School  Fund.  She  was  the  first  to  establish  State 
supervision  of  elementary  schools.  She  was  the  first  to  specially 
provide  for  the  education  of  teachers,  and  she  is  now  doing  more  for 
the  professional  training  of  teachers  than  any  other.  The  institute 
system  was  first  established  in  New  York.  She  was  the  first  to  pro- 
vide school  district  libraries.  She  was  the  first  to  publish  a journal 
exclusively  devoted  to  the  interests  of  common  schools.  The 
first  local  association  of  a permanent  character  in  the  country 
among  school  teachers  was  in  New  York  city.  The  first  State 
Teachers’  Convention  in  the  country  was  held  at  Utica,  and  the 
oldest  permanent  State  Teachers’  Association  in  America  is  the 


43 


one  I now  have  the  honor  to  address.  The  first  woman’s  college 
in  America  was  established  at  Elmira,  and  the  old  Albany  Female 
Academy  is  the  first  higher  educational  institution  for  women  the 
world  ever  knew.  New  York  is  the  only  State  to  have  established 
a special  court  to  determine  all  school  controversies,  and  provide 
that  its  decisions  shall  be  final  and  conclusive.  It  is  the  only 
State  to  provide  architects’  drawings  and  estimate  for  school- 
houses,  and  to  determine  the  character  of  the  structures  which 
localities  must  provide  for  school  purposes.  It  is  the  first  and 
only  State  to  give  statutory  recognition  to  the  work  of  the  col- 
leges and  universities  in  educating  teachers,  and  to  give  the  same 
recognition  to  teachers  of  acquired  position  who  may  come  to  us 
from  other  States.  We  are  doing  more  to  build  up  a teaching 
profession,  by  exacting  proper  qualifications  on  the  part  of  teach- 
ers and  protecting  their  legal  rights,  than  is  being  done  anywhere 
else  in  the  country.  The  great  State  is  spending  more  money  and 
exercising  closer  supervision  over  common  schools  than  any  other. 
The  legislative  power  has  been  and  is  continually  being  exercised 
to  consolidate  and  systematize  her  educational  work  upon  an 
intelligent  plan,  with  a definite  purpose,  to  a greater  extent  than 
any  commonwealth  east  or  west.  It  is  no  thoughtless,  self-con- 
ceited boast,  it  is  a fact  in  the  case,  which  her  teachers  ought  to 
understand,  that  they  may  appreciate  the  responsibility  under 
which  they  rest,  that  for  what  she  has  done  and  what  she  is  doing, 
and  what  she  is  trying  to  do,  her  common  school  work  occupies 
the  leading  position  among  the  States  of  the  American  Union. 

Criticisms  upon  the  Schools. 

Criticism  upon  the  work  of  the  public  schools  is  frequent. 
Sometimes  it  is  intelligent  and  just.  Criticism  of  this  class  is 
always  welcome.  But  most  of  it  is  not  of  this  kind.  You  may 
have  heard  of  the  man  who  could  never  appreciate  the  new  moon 
because  of  his  veneration  for  the  old  moon.  Undoubtedly,  you 
have  seen  a man  who  will  always  believe  that  no  other  woman 
could  make  such  pies  as  his  mother  made  when  he  was  a boy. 
Those  men  are  among  us  yet.  In  the  fitness  of  things  they 
should  have  been  gathered  to  their  fathers  long  ago,  but  they  still 
linger  on  this  side  of  the  river  in  a world  that,  according  to  their 
idea,  is  continually  becoming  more  and  more  degenerate  and 


44 


depraved.  They  will  insist  that  there  never  was  such  a school  as 
the  one  in  the  little  red  school-house  near  their  country  home, 
with  its  slab  benches,  text-books  which  had  been  handed  down 
through  many  generations,  and  a teacher  whose  principle  qualifi- 
cation was  his  ability  to  thrash  big  boys.  Smile  at  these  innocent 
and  well  meaning  relics  of  antiquity  and  let  them  go.  But  the 
theorist  and  the  doctrinaire  is  also  among  us.  He  has  not  been 
in  a public  school  for  many  years;  probably  never  was.  He  has  no 
knowledge  of  school  facts ; no  comprehension  of  the  problem 
involved;  yet  he  thinks  his  superior  reasoning  power  is  all 
sufficient  to  bring  him  to  a sound  conclusion  without  any 
knowledge  of  facts.  He  writes  in  the  newspapers  and  once  in  a 
while  in  the  literary  magazines.  He  writes  learnedly,  in  technical 
phrases,  and  enforces  his  profundity  by  quoting  Latin,  on  occa- 
sions. He  is  of  the  same  class  as  the  dyspeptic  who  is  prone  to 
advise  healthy  people  what  and  when  they  may  safely  eat,  and  as 
the  unattractive  dress-reformer  who  assumes  to  educate  ladies  as 
to  what  they  should  wear  and  how  they  should  wear  it.  He  too 
is  harmless ; deal  with  him  gently.  But  strange  as  it  is,  the 
enemy  of  the  schools  is  among  us,  too.  Commonly  he  is  a secret 
enemy,  and  works  in  the  dark  or  by  underground  process  to  dis- 
parage the  schools.  Sometimes  he  avows  his  enmity.  Join  the 
issue  and  never  spare  him.  Designedly  or  mistakenly  he  is  the 
enemy  of  free  institutions  and  of  government  by  the  people. 

Regardless  of  what  may  be  said,  freely  admitting  the  oppor- 
tunity and  the  duty  of  improvement,  the  fact  still  remains  that 
never  before  were  the  public  schools  of  the  county  so  well 
housed,  so  well  provide  with  books,  apparatus  and  appliances  of 
every  description,  so  intelligently  and  practically  taught,  so  per- 
vaded with  a kindly  and  affectionate  spirit,  so  full  of  enthusiasm 
and  progress,  so  fruitful  of  ennobling  results  and  far  reaching, 
beneficent  consequences  as  they  are  in  this  year  of  our  Lord 
1890. 

Conclusion. 

I must  conclude  upon  the  instant.  Even  the  hasty  and  super- 
ficial examination  of  the  rise  and  development  of  our  State 
common  school  system,  which  we  have  been  able  to  make  in  a 
single  evening,  will  be  fruitful  of  suggestions  which  your  interest 
in  the  subject  will  easily  enable  you  to  discern.  The  one  which 


45 


comes  to  me  with  more  force  than  any  other  is  that  history  clearly 
and  unmistakably  reveals  the  fact  that  free  schools  have  invari- 
ably been  the  accompaniment  and  the  support  of  civil  liberty  and 
of  government  by  the  people.  Wherever  there  has  been  self- 
government  there  have  been  common  schools;  wherever  there 
have  been  common  schools  mental  strength  and  manly  indepen- 
dence have  developed,  and  the  government  has  been  a democracy, 
or  the  kingship  has  been  only  a name. 

We  can  not  doubt  the  stability  and  the  permanence  of  our 
unique  American  system  of  free  schools.  It  is  warp  and  woof  of 
our  social  fabric,  the  staunchest  pillar  of  our  governmental 
temple.  The  most  deserving  and  practical  patriots  are  the  men 
and  women  who  do  most  to  simplify  and  perfect  its  machinery,  to 
make  its  work  ennobling,  and  to  keep  its  life  pure.  The  most 
insidious,  and  therefore  the  most  dangerous,  foe  of  the  Republic 
is  the  man  whose  politics  or  whose  religion,  whose  ignorance  or 
whose  selfishness,  leads  him,  deliberately  or  unwittingly,  to  thwart 
the  best  results  of  its  high  and  holy  mission. 

I thank  you  for  your  patience;  it  has  seemed  boundless.  For 
all  your  thoughtful  and  considerate  courtesy  I make  my  most 
respectful  acknowledgments ; it  encumbers  the  State  Superin- 
tendent with  obligations  which  he  has  no  power  to  repay  save 
only  in  sincere  and  grateful  appreciation. 

Note.— Investigations,  incident  to  the  preparation  of  the  foregoing  address,  have  led 
me  to  think  that  an  exhibit  showing  the  extent  and  manner  of  school  supervision 
which  has  been  in  operation  in  this  State  since  the  organization  of  the  school  system, 
together  with  a complete  list  of  State  superintendents,  and  a statement  indicating  the 
places  of  meeting,  and  the  presiding  officers  at  the  various  sessions  of  the  different 
State  associations,  would  be  acceptable  to  the  educators  of  the  State,  and  I take  the 
liberty  of  adding  the  same  in  a brief  appendix.  I also  embrace  the  opportunity  for 
acknowledging  my  indebtedness  to  Mr.  C.  W.  Bardeen,  of  Syracuse,  who  kindly  and 
generously  loaned  from  his  private  library  rare  books  and  documents  which  have 
been  of  great  assistance,  not  only  in  supplying  this  added  information,  but  in  the 
preparation  of  the  address  itself. 


A.  S.  1). 


APPENDIX 


System  of  Supervision. 


1796 


YEAR. 


By  State  By  county 
officer.  officers. 


By  city 
officers. 


By  town 
officers. 


1813 

1841 

1847 


1851 

1856 

1890 


State  Superintendents. 


NAMES. 


Gideon  Hawley 

Welcome  Esleeck 

Seo'etaries  of  State  and  Superintendents,  ex  officio: 

John  Van  Ness  Yates 

Azariah  C.  Flagg 

John  A.  Dix 

John  C.  Spencer 

Samuel  Young 

Nathaniel  S.  Benton 

Christopher  Morgan 

Henry  8.  Randall 

Elias  W.  Leavenworth 

Department  of  Public  Instruction: 

Victor  M.  Rice 

Henry  H.  Van  Dyck 

Emerson  W.  Keyes* 

Victor  M.  Rice 

Abram  B.  Weaver 

Neil  Gilmour 

William  B.  Ruggles 

James  E.  Morrison* 

Andrew  S.  Draper 


Residence. 

Chosen. 

Albany 

January 

14,  1813 

Albany  

February  22, 1821 

Albany 

April 

3,  1821 

Plattsburgh 

April 

14,  1826 

Cooperstown . . . 

April 

1,  1833 

Canandaigua  ... 

April 

4,  1839 

Ballston 

April 

7,  1842 

Little  Falls 

April 

3,  1846 

Auburn 

November  2, 1847 

Cortland 

November  4, 1851 

Syracuse 

November  8^1863 

Buffalo 

April 

4,  1864 

Albany 

April 

7,  1857 

Albany 

April 

9,  1861 

Buffalo 

February 

1,  1862 

Deerfield 

April 

7,  1868 

Ballston  Spa 

April 

7,  1874 

Bath 

March 

14.  1883 

New  York  city... 

January 

1,  1886 

Albany  

April 

6,  1886 

* Acting  Superintendents  by  reason  of  resignations. 


1846 

1846 

1847, 

1848, 

1849 

1860 

1861. 

1862, 

1853. 

1864. 

1855. 

1856. 

1857. 

1868. 

1869. 

1860. 

1861. 

1862. 

1863. 

1864. 

1866. 

1866. 

1867. 

1868, 

1869. 

1870. 

1871. 

1872. 

1873. 

1874. 

1876. 

1876. 

1877. 

1878. 

1879. 

1880. 

1881. 

1882. 

1883. 

1884. 

1886. 

1886. 

1887. 

1888. 

1889 

1890. 

1891, 


47 


New  York  State  Teachers’  Association. 


YEAR. 


Place. 


Syracuse  

Utica 

Rochester 

Auburn 

* 

New  York 

Buffalo 

Elmira 

Rochester 

Oswego 

Utica 

'Proy 

Binghamton 

Lockport 

Poughkeepsie 

Syracuse  

Watertown  

Rochester 

Troy 

Buffalo 

Elmira 

Geneva  

Auburn 

Owego 

Ithaca 

Syracuse 

Lockport 

Saratoga  Springs 

Utica 

Binghamton 

Fredonia 

Watkins 

Plattsburgh 

Albany 

Penn  Yan 

Canandaigua 

Saratoga  Springs 

Yonkors 

Lake  George  

Elmira 

Saratoga  Springs 

Niagara  Falls 

Elizabethtown  ... 

Watkins 

Brooklyn 

Saratoga  Springs 
Saratoga  Springs, 


President. 


John  W.  Bulkley. 
Chester  Dewey. 

Joseph  McKeen. 
Samuel  B.  Woolworth. 
Charles  R.  Coburn. 
Charles  R.  Coburn. 
John  W.  Bulkley. 
Nehemiah  P.  Stanton. 
Charles  Davies. 

Victor  M.  Rice. 

Reuben  D.  Jones. 
Leonard  Hazeltine. 
Thomas  W Valentine. 
George  L.  Farnham. 
Oliver  Arey. 

James  N.  McElligott. 
Edward  A.  Sheldon. 
James  Cruikshank. 
Emerson  C.  Pomeroy. 
James  B.  Thomson. 
Edward  North. 

James  Atwater. 
Samuel  G.  Williams. 
James  W.  Barker. 
William  N.  Reid. 
Samuel  D.  Barr. 

J.  Dorman  Steele. 
James  H Hoose. 
Edward  Danforth. 
Andrew  McMillan. 

H.  R.  Sanford. 

Noah  T.  Clark. 

Edward  Smith. 

John  W.  Mears. 

Casper  G.  Brower. 
James  Johonnot. 
Jerome  Allen. 

Albert  B.  Watkins. 

J.  A.  Nichols. 

Charles  T.  Barnes. 

S.  A.  Ellis. 

Charles  E.  Surdam. 
George  GriflQth. 

J.  W.  Kimball. 

E.  H.  Cook. 

Walter  B.  Gunnison. 
James  M.  Milne. 


No  meeting  held  on  account  of  prevalence  of  cholera  in  New  York. 


48 


Commissioners  and  Superintendents’  Association. 


YEAR. 

Place. 

President. 

1866 

Troy  

Victor  M.  Rice,  State  Supt.,  ex  officio. 
H.  H.  Van  Dyck,  State  Supt.,  e officio. 
H.  H.  Van  Dyck,  State  Supt, » .officio. 
H.  H.  Van  Dyck,  State  Supt,  ex  officio. 
H.  H.  Van  Dyck,  State  Supt,  ex  officio. 

1857 

Cortland 

1858 

Elmira  

1859 

Lyons 

I860  

Syracuse  

1861  

1862 

1 During  the  war  of  the  rebellion,  the  association  ceased  to  hold 

1 meetings. 

1 

1863 

1864 

1865 

Elmira 

John  W.  Bulkley  (reorganization). 
John  W.  Bulkley. 

James  Cruikshank. 

Charles  T.  Pooler. 

* 

Jason  B.  Wells. 

Edward  Smith. 

* 

0.  F.  Stiles. 

Edwin  McMath. 

Edwin  McMath. 

Edwin  McMath. 

Edwin  McMath. 

Andrew  McMillan. 

Andrew  McMillan. 

Sidney  G.  Cooke 

Sidney  G.  Cooke. 

George  V.  Chapin. 

Edward  Wait. 

George  F.  Crumby. 

J.  Joel  Crandall. 

Edward  C.  Delano. 

•Tared  Sandford. 

1866 

Geneva  

1867  

Auburn  

1868 

Owego 

1869 

Ithaca 

1 870  

Svracii  se  

1871 

Utica 

1872  

Rochester  

1873 

Saratoga  and  Utica 

1 874  

Syracuse  

1875 

Rochester  

1876 

Watkins 

1 877  

Albany 

1878 

Utica 

1879  

Ithaca i 

1879  

Auburn 

1880 

Utica 

1882 

Albanv 

1 883  

Little  Falls  

1884 

Rochester 

1885 

Utica 

1886 

Ithaca 

1887 

Syraonso  

1888 

Binghamton 

Charles  E.  White. 

James  L.  Lusk. 

Ezra  B.  Knapp. 

Emmons  J.  Swift. 

1889 

New  York 

1889 

Cortland 

1891 

Batavia  .*.. 

*It  is  impossible  at  present  to  supply  these  names.  Any  person  who  can  do  so  will 
confer  a favor  by  forwarding  them. 


Council  of  .Superintendents. 


YEAR. 

Place. 

President. 

1 883  

Syracuse  

Edward  Smith. 
Charles  W.  Cole. 
David  Beattie. 

L.  C.  Foster. 

Charles  E.  Gorton. 

B.  B.  Snow. 

David  Beattie. 

1 884  

Albany 

1 88fi  

Auburn 

1886 

Binghamton 

1 887  

Rochester 

1888  

Utica 

1 889  

Albany 

Conferences  of  Associated  Academic  Principals. 


YEAR. 

Place. 

President. 

1 885  

Syracuse  

George  R.  Cutting. 
George  R.  Cutting. 
George  R.  Cutting. 

C.  T.  R.  Smith. 

1 886  

Syracuse  

1 887  

Syracuse  

1 888  

Syracuse  

1 889  

Syracuse  

C.  T.  R.  Smith. 

"i 


•i 


'f. 


Si 

> i 


